STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1506-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 3204

S.D. 1

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 Human Services & Homelessness, to which was referred S.B. No. 3204, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY RESILIENCE PILOT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a one-year Family Resilience Pilot Program within the Office of Wellness and Resilience;

(2) Require the Office to report to the Legislature on the Pilot Program; and

(3) Appropriate Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to support the Pilot Program, including contracting with a third-party administrator.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Executive Office on Early Learning; State Council on Developmental Disabilities; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Office of Wellness and Resilience; Early Childhood Action Strategy; Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!; and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that families throughout the State continue to experience complex and interconnected challenges, including economic strain, mental health stressors, housing instability, and the cumulative impacts of recent public health emergencies and natural disasters. These conditions underscore the need for coordinated, prevention-focused strategies that strengthen families before crises escalate. The pilot program established by this measure focuses on trauma-informed and culturally responsive services, community support, and parenting education, and critically, integrates trained, trauma-informed peer support navigators with lived experience. Your Committee further finds that the prevention-based investments under the pilot program will help families remain stable while also reducing long-term public costs associated with child welfare involvement and crisis services.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the duration of the Family Resilience Pilot Program from one year to two years and extending the sunset date to June 30, 2028, accordingly;

(2) Clarifying that the trauma-informed peer support navigators hired under the Pilot Program can assist up to, rather than a total of, eighty families;

(3) Clarifying that the Pilot Program shall identify, rather than establish, monthly parenting classes or cultural family strengthening services and connect to families as appropriate;

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

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $600,000 in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds for the purposes of this Act.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3204, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3204, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services & Homelessness,

____________________________

LISA MARTEN, Chair