Bill Text: HI SB1100 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Department of Human Services; General Assistance Program

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-04-26 - The conference committee deferred the measure. [SB1100 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB1100-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 519

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1100

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1100 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE GENERAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Department of Human Services to draw from other funds appropriated to the Department to maintain the level of General Assistance benefits payments set at the beginning of each fiscal year for the entire fiscal year.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee finds that the General Assistance Program of the Department of Human Services provides financial assistance to disabled individuals without minor dependents.  Because the General Assistance Program is a block grant program involving a fixed amount, assistance levels are determined at the beginning of the fiscal year based on the number of people in the community who require assistance.  If the number of General Assistance recipients rises, the amount of assistance per recipient must be reduced.

 

     Your Committee also finds that, in fiscal year 2011-2012, an increase in the Department's General Assistance caseload necessitated an emergency appropriation by the Legislature to prevent a severe reduction in the benefit payment amount afforded to program recipients.  In the current fiscal year, a projected rise in the General Assistance caseload has already prompted a reduction in the benefit payment amount.  Your Committee further finds that this measure will permit the Department of Human Services to utilize savings from other programs, when necessary, to stabilize payment levels and eliminate the need to request emergency appropriations.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

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

 

     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. 1100, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1100, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair