STAND. COM. REP. NO. 305

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 161

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 161 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate grant-in-aid funding to the YMCA of Honolulu for its Youth Wellness Program for Mental Health to improve mental health and address the wellness needs of youths in the State.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the YMCA of Honolulu, thirty-three teen participants of the YMCA of Honolulu Youth Wellness Program for Mental Health, and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic have had a deleterious effect on the mental health of adolescents in the State and that significant investments are required to reverse and address the eroding mental well-being of these youth. Your Committee notes the testimony submitted by numerous teen participants of the YMCA of Honolulu Youth Wellness Program for Mental Health, attesting to the program's success in working with youth and offering evidenced-based practices to support mental wellness, prevention and intervention services, and supportive services to youth dealing with substance abuse. Your Committee further finds that to improve mental health and address the wellness needs of youths in the State, the YMCA of Honolulu Youth Wellness Program for Mental Health is proposing to engage four thousand five hundred youth in various therapeutic activities at various YMCA locations and venues. The funds appropriated by this measure will allow the YMCA of Honolulu to develop and implement its Youth Wellness Program for Mental Health statewide.

Your Committee requests that your Committee on Ways and Means consider an appropriation amount of $2,700,000 as a grant-in-aid to the YMCA of Honolulu for the YMCA of Honolulu Youth Wellness Program for Mental Health to improve mental health and wellness needs of youths in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 161, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 161, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,

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JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair