STAND. COM. REP. NO. 795

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 979

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

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. 979, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO YOUTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Office of Youth Services to implement a safe places for youth pilot program to provide youth in crisis with a safety network and access to advice, guidance, programs, and services.

 

Additionally, this measure appropriates funds to fill a program coordinator position for the program and provide housing opportunities for program participants.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Youth Services; Hawaii Youth Services Network; Hawaii Primary Care Association; Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; Protecting Hawaii's Ohana, Children, Under-Served, Elderly and Disabled (PHOCUSED); Family Programs Hawaii; Olomea Inc.; Rainbow Family 808; and three individuals.  Written comments in opposition to this measure were received from Hawaii Family Advocates and two individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that prevention is a critical component in the juvenile justice continuum of services, and the pilot project established under this measure will serve that purpose, by providing youth access to help, advice, and guidance before their problems escalate into possible delinquent behaviors.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Requiring the Office of Youth Services to submit annual reports to the Legislature on the pilot program;

 

(2)  Specifying that the program coordinator position is exempt from the State's civil service laws;

 

(3)  Changing the appropriation amount to an unspecified sum; and

 

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

 

     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. 979, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 979, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair