STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1120-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2885

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Health & Homelessness, to which was referred S.B. No. 2885, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish within the Statewide Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions in the Department of Human Services a working group to develop a Triage Center Program that focuses on serving homeless individuals with substance abuse issues or mental illness; and

(2) Appropriate funds to the Department of Human Services for the working group.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness; Office of Housing and Community Development of the County of Hawaiʻi; Partners In Care; CARES; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Aloha United Way; and two individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and The Institute for Human Services, Inc.

Your Committees find that the State has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the nation. According to the 2023 Oahu Point in Time Count, homeless individuals are more likely to suffer from substance abuse problems, report a mental illness, and have one or more disabling conditions, all of which require proper medical treatment and resources that homeless individuals often lack. Your Committees believe that establishing a working group to develop a Homeless Triage and Treatment Center Program will offer many homeless individuals the opportunity to receive effective treatment.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Renaming the program the Homeless Triage and Treatment Center Program and clarifying the target population to be served by the program;

(2) Requiring the costs of the Homeless Triage and Treatment Center Program to be covered by insurance whenever possible;

(3) Adding a representative from The Institute of Human Services, Inc., to the working group;

(4) Removing as unnecessary a reference to the State Ethics Code, as the State Ethics Commission's longstanding practice is to exclude the activities of task force members from the general provisions of the Code; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health & Homelessness that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2885, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2885, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health & Homelessness,

____________________________ DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair

____________________________ LISA MARTEN, Chair