Honolulu, Hawaii
H.D. 1
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Second State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 456 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO YOUTH,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure to establish a grant program within the Office of Youth Services to provide funding and support to qualified programs that support the State's youth, with priority given to programs that support youth from ethnic groups that are disproportionately represented in the State's correctional system, support rehabilitation, or meet needs identified by the Office of Youth Services in consultation with the community.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the City and County of Honolulu City Council, the Hawai‘i Youth Services Network, Kalihi Community Center, and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Office of Youth Services.
Your Committee finds
that youth from all communities deserve a stable and well-rounded
upbringing. However, many underserved
youth lack appropriate avenues to explore their roles in the community. Your Committee further finds that best
practices for youth from underserved communities who face negative risk factors
and adverse childhood experiences is to provide culturally focused
services. Your Committee particularly
notes the Kalihi Community Center, whose range of free programs are designed to
serve low-income families, at-risk youth, and members of different island-based
communities, as an ideal model of the types of programs and entities intended
to be supported by this measure.
Your Committee additionally notes the Office of Youth Services' preference for H.B. No. 438, Regular Session of 2023, which appropriates funds to establish a Pacific Youth Programs Coordinator position, as a more appropriate vehicle to accomplish the intended purpose of this measure.
Your
Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Inserting language
establishing standards for the distribution of the funds appropriated in this
measure as grants under the At-Risk Youth Grant Program;
(2) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000,
to encourage further discussion; and
(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments
for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
Your Committee notes the concerns raised in testimony by the Office of Youth Services that the Office lacks a mechanism that would allow them to distribute funds within a grant program model. Your Committee therefore respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider amending this measure further to allow the Office of Youth Services to distribute the funds appropriated by this measure through contracts with appropriate programs and entities, rather than grants.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 456, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 456, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,
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JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair |
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