STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3116

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2227

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2227, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD CARE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Expand the existing exemption from state law governing child care for the United States Department of Defense-certified child care providers on federal property to those operating off federal property; and

(2) Require the United States Department of Defense-certified child care facilities with clients who are not children of enlisted families or who receive a child care subsidy from the Department of Human Services to have a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Human Services.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the United States Department of Defense, Hawaii Military Affairs Council, and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committees find that under existing Department of Human Services administrative rules, the process of issuing a registration for family child care could take up to one hundred eighty days from the date of submission of the application for registration, and that this delay occurs at a time when both civilian and military families frequently encounter waitlists and capacity issues for family child care. Your Committees further find that existing state law exempts child care providers certified by the Unites States Department of Defense from State law governing licensure and registration that is duplicative of the certification they receive from the military services; provided that the facility is on federal property. By expanding this exemption to United States Department of Defense certified child care providers that are operating off federal property, this measure will increase availability of qualified child care options and enhance the quality of life and economic security for both providers and the State's residents.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have required any United States Department of Defense certified child care facility with clients who are not children of enlisted families or who receive a child care subsidy from the Department of Human Services to have a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Human Services regarding operation of the child care facility;

(2) Making it effective upon its approval; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2227, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2227, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair