STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3627

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2021

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2021, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Human Services to establish a pilot project to operate a facility to provide shelter and mental health treatment services to certain homeless individuals with severe mental illness.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii Psychological Association, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai`i, and one concerned individual.

 

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Department of Human Services, Department of Health, and the Mayor's Office of Housing - City and County of Honolulu.

 

     Your Committee finds that providing mental health services to homeless individuals with severe mental illness or severe co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders could reduce chronic homelessness in the State among individuals who often reject treatment and become, or remain, chronically homeless.

 

     Your Committee notes that the annual cost of the pilot project is anticipated to be $600,000, but that the first year's costs will be less than the subsequent years' costs due to the time needed to procure the designated service provider, establish the shelter, and organize the legal procedures.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Extending the scope of the pilot project to individuals with severe mental illness or severe co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders;

 

(2)  Modifying the goals of the pilot project;

 

(3)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to procure the services of a designated service provider for the pilot project;

 

(4)  Requiring:

 

(A)  The Adult Protective and Community Services Branch of the Department of Human Services to petition the family court for court-ordered assisted community treatment or court-ordered guardianship; and

 

(B)  A licensed physician employed by the designated service provider to petition the family court for court-ordered assisted community treatment,

 

for a homeless individual with severe mental illness or severe co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders; provided that the applicable court-ordered treatments state that it is in the individual's best interest to enroll in a mental health treatment program;

 

(5)  Requiring the Adult Protective and Community Services Branch of the Department of Human Services to provide the requisite information and paperwork for the public guardianship of homeless individuals under the pilot project;

 

(6)  Allowing certain licensed physicians to place a homeless individual with severe mental illness or severe co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders into the pilot project's shelter pursuant to a court order;

 

(7)  Reducing from ten to eight the number of homeless individuals with severe mental illness or severe co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders who may receive shelter and mental health treatment at the facility at any given time;

 

(8)  Changing the identification documentation requirement for the receipt of shelter and treatment under the pilot project into a discretionary guideline;

 

(9)  Specifying that the pilot project shall end on June 30, 2021;

 

(10) Requiring that the Department of Human Services submit both an interim report and a final report to the Legislature;

 

(11) Requiring that the Department of Human Services enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Health and the designated service provider;

 

(12) Requiring the designated service provider, rather than the Department of Human Services, to locate a suitable facility to provide shelter and mental health treatment services;

 

(13) Requiring that the Governor's Office ensure that data from the pilot project is entered into the Homeless Management Information System;

 

(14) Establishing one 0.5 full-time equivalent (0.5 FTE) staff position in the Office of the Public Guardian;

 

(15) Allowing the Department of Human Services to use the appropriation for the leasing of a facility for the pilot project and to procure any services necessary to achieve the goals of the pilot project;

 

(16) Deleting the requirement that the provisions to establish the pilot project take effect upon the Department of the Attorney General's approval; and

 

(17) Making technical nonsubstantive changes 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 H.B. No. 2021, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2021, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair