Report Title:

Substance Abuse; Treatment; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates moneys for: (1) grants for existing or emerging community coalitions to coordinate local substance abuse prevention efforts; (2) administration of the grant program through ADAD; and (3) substance abuse programs in middle and intermediate schools. (SD1)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1466

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 1


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to STate funds.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, whether it is called "ice," "batu," or "shabu," crystal methamphetamine has been a serious public health issue in Hawaii since the late 1980s. Accessible and highly addictive, "ice" usage has reached epidemic proportions and has affected all of Hawaii's ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic sectors. There have been several recent and sensational incidents involving its use, including one long-term mentally ill drug user who axed his elderly father to death and seriously injured his mother because they refused to give him money to buy "ice." Another incident includes the spectacular hit and run crash in east Honolulu that involved over a dozen vehicles and tied up traffic for hours. The crash was caused by occupants of a stolen vehicle who were known "ice" users.

The legislature further finds that Hawaii's community coalitions play an important role in bringing residents, service providers, and other community members together to focus on the "ice" issue in local neighborhoods and communities. It is vital to keep existing community coalitions viable and mobilized, and to encourage the development of new or emerging community coalitions. This approach will empower community coalitions to assist in the prioritization of resources and funding through cooperative problem solving, planning, and bottom-up decision-making. One way to maintain this approach is for the department of health's alcohol and drug abuse division to administer a program to award grants to community coalitions who are using evidence-based models or best practices to provide prevention services specifically in areas that do not have existing resources. The legislature notes that efficient resource management is a key ingredient in programmatic success, and the department of health shall be called upon to report to the legislature on its use of state-allocated funds.

The legislature further finds that the use of alcohol and other drugs by our youth can impede social and intellectual development and can lead individuals to engage in dangerous activities, such as reckless driving, premature and unprotected sex, and violence. Part of the core continuum of care needed for adolescents is early identification of any substance abuse issues, followed by early treatment. School-based treatment is an effective way to intervene timely in an adolescent's life, and succeed in avoiding more costly treatment later, producing a lower dropout rate, and increasing adult functionality. While the department of health provides services that address student alcohol and other substance abuse, programs must be available in all middle and intermediate schools.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate moneys to fund a grant program for community coalitions to implement best practices in local substance abuse prevention efforts; to fund the administration and coordination of grant program resources through the alcohol and drug abuse division of the department of health; and to extend adolescent school-based substance abuse treatment programs to middle and intermediate schools, with a priority given to schools with the greatest need that have no school-based programs.

SECTION 2. The department of health shall issue a report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the commencement of the Regular Session of 2007 on the impact of state funds allocated for all department substance abuse programs in the regular legislative sessions of 2005 and 2006.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, to award grants of not more than $150,000 each to community coalitions that are using evidence-based models or best practices to provide prevention services specifically in areas that do not have existing resources.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $352,220, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, to fund the administration and coordination of the substance abuse grant program, including the monitoring and tracking of grant resources, through the department of health alcohol and drug abuse division.

SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,817,500, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, for adolescent school-based substance abuse treatment programs in middle and intermediate schools, with a priority given to establishing programs in schools with the greatest need.

SECTION 6. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.