House Standing Committee on Human Services & Homelessness

Good morning. We are convening the House Human Services and Homelessness Committee. It is April 10th, 2025, 11:30, in conference room 3329 and on Zoom. We have a short hearing today and we'll roll right into it.

So, first today we have SCR 73, SD 1, requesting the Office of Wellness and Resilience to develop a report to address the developmental needs of children born during the coronavirus disease 2019 Pandemic. First today we have the Office of Wellness and Resilience, Office of the Governor, in support.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Trina Orimoto from the Office of Wellness and Resilience. We stand in support of this measure and thank you all for hearing it. We're excited for the opportunity to collaborate with local researchers to develop evidence-based and community-formed recommendations to address this issue for our community.

And we also want to thank you for passing HCR 139, which is an identical measure, through this Committee previously. We're available for questions. Thank you again.

Thank you. Next up, we have one individual in support on Zoom. Okay, Daniel Goya, go ahead.

Yeah. Hello, Chair, Vice Chair, and Committee, extending strong support. And on my testimony, I would just like to add, I'm a former school teacher and a trauma-informed care trainer across the state.

And this, the need for this is very dire in our communities, particularly those children who were 0 to 5 during COVID and had some kind of climate crisis on either side. So, either those that were disrupted by the volcano in Kilauea in 2018 or the Lahaina fires, the Maui wildfires.

So, it's almost like a double whammy volcano, then Covid and then Covid or Lahaina. For these particular communities, I'm really afraid that some supports need to be put in when they hit the middle school years, which is in a few years, to adequately support them and to support our teachers.

So, mahalo for considering this and mahalo for all that you do.

Thank you. That's all we have to testify. Would anybody else in person like to testify or on Zoom? Members, questions? Okay. We also have the Department of Education in support and the Hawaii Community Foundation in support. Okay, we'll move on to our next item of the day.

SCR 239, SD 1, requesting Department of Accounting and General Services, Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation to provide universal changing accommodations in all state facilities, state parks, and city and county parks. First up today, we have the Department of Accounting and General Services in person, providing comments.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Gerald Shioji. I'm with the Department of Accounting and General Services, Central Services Division. We stand on our testimony with comments as submitted by our comptroller in the Department. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have Department of Land and Natural Resources State parks in support—comments, comments.

Good afternoon or still morning, Chair, Members of the Committee. Kurt Cottrell, Administrator for the Division of State Parks. The Department—we really appreciate the intent and understand the kind of the sentiments as to why this would be a good thing for the public. However, just to alert the Committee.

I don't know what the implications would be for the county statewide, but it would be pretty significant. For state parks, we have 73 comfort stations throughout the state. One of the things we're battling is vandalism, homelessness. It's difficult for us even to keep soap dispensers intact in a lot of our state parks.

So, while we appreciate the intent of the measure and would hope to amend it, that when we build something new, we would factor this into the design. But to retrofit 73 comfort stations to make this a complex accommodation, I don't know what the economic hit would be, but it'd be pretty significant.

In addition to, depending on the size of our comfort stations, we have ADA requirements for space of travel, and so, I don't know how an adult size changing folding table would, would impact, you know, that type of ADA requirement as well.

So, if we do, if it does go through, where in the future we do it, we are in alignment with DAGs in terms of use the 2024 International Building Code design criteria, you know, moving forward. But we humbly request for existing comfort stations that, that this would not be a requirement. Mahalo.

Thank you. Okay, next up, we have the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities, in person, in support.

Good morning or after—good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Samir Gorham. I am an Intern at the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities. We want to stand strong in our support on this measure, just kind of highlighting on the fact that accessible facilities are essential to ensuring independence of our individuals living with disabilities.

This represents a pretty significant step towards achieving equity and access to public accommodations for all members of our community. So, for those reasons, we stand in support, and I'll be available for any questions. Thank you.

All right, thank you. We also have Department of Parks and Recreations in opposition, Hawaii Disability Rights Center in support, and one individual providing comments. Is there any individual that would like to submit testimony in person or online? Members, any questions? Chair.

For State Parks, please. I wonder, you know, this is something that I'm glad I was educated about through this resolution. I didn't really—adult changing tables were not on my radar.

Right.

So, is this something that you'd have in any of your bathrooms?

We don't even have infant changing stations in our comfort stations. Our comfort stations have to be designed to be pretty burly due to the, in some cases, either the high use or the abusive use.

So, we try to maintain a minimal amount of fixtures and whatnot just due to vandalism and, you know, the need to replace fixtures and stuff over time. So no, it's—I understand that there, there's an application for this socially, but I think just retrofitting our own comfort stations, the planning, the design, the expense versus the outcome, I don't think it is a fair exchange, right?

I don't think it's understanding that, you know, people may want to have this opportunity. I think it should be something that should be considered in future designs.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Sure.

What kind of complaints, based on—do you have any complaints throughout the year about kupunas or people wanting to have an extended restroom for changing?

No. In my career, which spans about 34 years at DLNR, we've never received any complaints about not having this type of infrastructure in the comfort stations. It's usually they're broken, the shower doesn't work. You know, the standard complaints of wear and tear.

But no one has approached us saying that this is a need that, you know, should be applied to our state park comfort stations.

Over 30 something years.

Yeah.

And if this does—Bill goes forward—what will you guys be doing? Adding in new tables or how would it look?

You know, it's such a new concept for us because like I said, we don't even have infant folding tables. So, it would be a pretty heavy lift to redesign a lot of our comfort stations to allow for this accommodation to be in place.

Like I said earlier, we have to maintain certain widths for accessible access for wheelchairs and whatnot. So, there could be some significant redesign per comfort station once we really dug into it.

But your existing comfort station now can access a lot of this handicap?

Oh, yeah, we have fully ADA compliant comfort stations. Absolutely. Yeah, we've gone through that whole retrofit several years ago.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks.

All right, Members, any more questions?

Okay, we'll roll right into decision making. So, first up for today we have SCR 73, SD 1. My recommendation is to pass as is. Members, any questions, comments, concerns?

Thank you. Just a comment. I fully support the intent of this resolution. I believe that many of our children were affected physically and mentally during the COVID-19 shutdowns and caused from the harmful policies of our state government, Federal Government. Support this study.

My only concern is on page two, lines—on line five—it says whereas the climate crisis, such as two events which it mentions, I think the word "climate crisis" should be changed to natural disasters. And so, because of that, since it's going unamended, I'll be voting with reservations.

Okay, thank you. Any other Members—comments, concerns? Okay.

Thank you. In full support of this measure. And I just want to highlight one of our testifiers, Danny Goya, who mentioned the eruption on the Big Island, and that was a very unique situation. Most natural disasters happen but rather quickly within a 48 hour period. But that was a long, dragged out, stressful situation.

It was over the course of months and the uncertainty of whether or not a lot of these families would have homes was very alarming and we continue to feel the effects of that.

So, I'm in full support of this and do appreciate kind of highlighting that trauma and trauma-informed care throughout all of our natural disasters. Needs to take a very really unique look at the long-term impacts of our friends, families, and neighbors. Thank you, Chair.

Okay, any other Members? Comments, concerns? Okay, we'll move for chair for the vote.

[Roll Call]

All right, thank you. All right, moving on to our last item of the day, SCR 239, SD 1. When we, we first took a look at the, the resolutions coming from the Senate and we're putting it on the agenda, this one really kind of spoke to me about trying to increase equitable access across the state for these facilities.

But like Chair had mentioned, I learned a lot through this process. I didn't realize that this was an issue. I personally am not affected and similar to when I became a parent, you didn't realize certain things until you have to go through it.

And so, I was like, you know, intrinsically, I was like, hey, I think this is good. I think we need to move this forward. But based off of the testimony that was provided and given the environment that we're currently in when we think about our budget, I'm going to go ahead and defer this resolution.

I think it's something we could definitely be addressing in the future, and this conversation needs to be continued. Absolutely. I think we can make something better, and I think we need to be partnering with some of these departments that had some reservations to work for something that can—we can move through the House.

So, with that, Members, any comments, questions or concerns? Rep. Amato.

Thank you. You know, we have a responsibility to provide equal access. Simply because someone isn't coming forward saying, hey, I need this, and I don't have it doesn't mean that there is not a need in our community. Our community, unfortunately, when you're disabled, you're viewed as invisible. You're simply not seen.

So, sometimes you don't speak up when you really need assistance somewhere. So, I'm disappointed we're deferring this, but I'm hopeful we can recraft this next session and produce something better. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. You know, like Rep. Amato, I think I just share in those concerns.

I think what would be really wise is for the Department, the State Department of Parks, along with our city and county parks departments across the state, actually do a needs assessment and look at all of our bathroom facilities so that we can begin to provide reasonable accommodations not only for our disabled, but our aging population.

You know, we're hitting that silver tsunami. These are things that people will just need. We'll have three generations over the age of 55 starting this year, 2025.

And so, if maybe the departments could start to fall forward and look at all of their facilities and do a needs assessment along with a matrix of high used facilities compared to more rural park areas where, you know, some of our disabled community wouldn't hike a park but begin to prioritize those, you know, so when we get to the next session, we can actually do the good work for the people.

Thanks.

Any other Members? Okay, we are adjourned.