STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2476

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2840

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Economic Development and Taxation, to which was referred S.B. No. 2840 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to establish and update a self-sufficiency standard for the State.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), the Department of Human Services, the Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development, Hawaii Women Work!, the National Association of Social Workers and Welfare and Employments Rights Coalition, and one private citizen.

 

     Your Committees find that currently, sixty-nine per cent of jobs in Hawaii pay less than what is needed for self-sufficiency, compared with fifty per cent in other states.  By updating the State's self-sufficiency standard biannually, Hawaii will be in a better position to assess the needs of its most vulnerable citizens and to use realistic economic guidelines to create a state-wide environment that supports living wages.  Your Committees further find that DBEDT testimony contained a range of amounts to establish a self-sufficiency standard, from $30,000 to update previously-collected data, to $50,000 to conduct a more comprehensive revaluation of standards and data.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Incorporating the comments of the Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development by substituting the language of the purpose section from House Bill 2184 H.D. 1, and by amending the description of the self-sufficiency standard; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Economic Development and Taxation that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2840, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2840, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Economic Development and Taxation,

 

____________________________

CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair