STAND. COM. REP. NO. 643

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 250

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 250 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FEDERAL FUNDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify how federal funds received by the State are to be expended.

 

Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Expressly states that the disbursement of federal-aid moneys is subject to legislative appropriation or other law authorizing expenditure;

 

     (2)  Amends the definition of "federal funds" in the executive budget act to include financial aid reasonably anticipated to be received from the federal government or financial aid for which an agency's application is pending before the federal government;

 

     (3)  Allows the expenditure of unanticipated or excess federal moneys when authorized by proviso in the budget or supplemental budget act; and

 

     (4)  States the intent that this Act shall apply to the Judiciary by operation of section 601-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Health, and University of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that the clarifications made by this measure will assist the Legislature in gaining a more accurate understanding of the amounts and types of federal funding that are being received by state agencies.  This added information and budgetary control will enable the Legislature to make better assessments of agency budgets, thereby facilitating fiscal accountability.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the definition of "federal funds" to delete a reference to financial aid for which an agency's application is pending before the federal government;

 

     (2)  Changing the defined term "unanticipated or excess federal moneys" to "unanticipated federal moneys" and further clarifying that term's definition to include federal financial aid that is not appropriated in the budget or supplemental budget act; 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 Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 250, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 250, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair