STAND. COM. REP. NO. 183-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2116

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2116 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GRANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Appropriate funds to the Office of Community Services to award grants to certain nonprofit organizations;

(2) Establish an evaluation and selection committee to oversee the awarding of grants; and

(3) Appropriate funds for positions in the Office of Community Services and for the Department of the Attorney General to assist the Office in reviewing contracts and monitoring costs.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Community Services; Hawaiʻi True Cost Coalition; Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations; Partners in Development Foundation; AlohaCare; Aloha United Way; Hawaiʻi Primary Care Association; Hawaiʻi Community Foundation; Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi; and Hawaiʻi Foodbank.

Your Committee finds that the federal government has imposed new community engagement requirements on able‑bodied adults without dependents who are seeking eligibility for various federal programs, creating an immediate need for expanded opportunities to complete qualifying volunteer and training hours. Your Committee further finds that many affected residents lack access to structured programs that provide verifiable hours, placing an already vulnerable population at risk of losing essential benefits and increasing economic instability. This measure provides residents with accessible pathways to maintain eligibility for federal programs and build workforce skills.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the appropriation to provide grants to certain nonprofit organizations shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year for which it was made;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2116, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2116, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Human Services & Homelessness.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,

____________________________

JACKSON D. SAYAMA, Chair