STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2717

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2861

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2861, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Kakou Pilot Program within the Office of Wellness and Resilience.

More specifically, the purpose of the measure is to support families and children in need by:

(1) Utilizing unspent and unencumbered federal assistance moneys; and

(2) Expanding eligibility for the $50 benefit provided pursuant to the Child Wellness Incentive Pilot Program established by Act 127, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Office of Wellness and Resilience, Aloha United Way, Opportunity for Youth Action Hawaii, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the State has accumulated approximately $470,000,000 in unspent federal assistance moneys and has an estimated $333,000,000 in encumbrances on that federal funding. Your Committee further finds that the federal funding is from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and must be expended to assist needy families and families that are especially susceptible to charges of neglect for failure to provide shelter, supervision, and other necessities for their children. Accordingly, your Committee finds that this measure will support families and children in need by utilizing the unspent federal moneys for the purposes of the newly established Kakou Pilot Program.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adopting suggested amendments from:

(A) The Department of Human Services:

(i) Clarifying the eligibility for expending Temporary Assistance for Needy Families moneys; and

(ii) Removing the expansion of eligibility for the state Child Wellness Incentive Pilot Program; and

(B) The Office of Wellness and Resilience, providing for a one-year planning period for development of the Kakou Pilot Program; and

(2) Adding a repeal date of June 30, 2027, excluding section 2, subsection (e), of the measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2861, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2861, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair