Bill Text: HI HB718 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Former Foster Youth; Housing; Appropriation

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [HB718 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HB718-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 850

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 718

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 718, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FOSTER YOUTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Authorize the Department of Human Services to develop and administer a program to assist former foster youth with housing options upon aging out of the foster care system; and

 

     (2)  Appropriate funds to develop and administer a housing assistance program for former foster youth.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hawaii Family Forum, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee finds that thirty percent of youth who age out of foster care at eighteen years of age become homeless before they reach the age of twenty-one.  Your Committee further finds that many former foster youth need assistance in locating affordable housing, negotiating with landlords, and managing their budgets.  This measure would provide Hawaii's former foster youth with transitional support to empower them to become productive and self-sufficient adults.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the appropriation amount from an unspecified sum to $5,000,000; and

 

     (2)  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 Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 718, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 718, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair