House Standing Committee on Human Services & Homelessness

Good morning, and thank you for being here today, Thursday, 02/12/2026, 10:30am in Conference Room 329 for the committee on human services and homelessness hearing. Alright. So first item on our agenda is HB 1877 relating to the Hawaii State Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Plus Commission. It just adds some members. And first up to testify, we have on Zoom, pride at work. Please go ahead.

I'm sorry. I'm here in my capacity as vice chair of the Hawaii State LGBTQ plus commission.

Okay. Great. Please go ahead in that capacity.

Okay. Great. Thank you. Good morning. Michael Goloje junior, he, him pronouns.

I am, like I said, vice chair of the Hawaii State LGBTQ plus commission, and we thank you for hearing this bill. The evidence behind this bill is that when we were first established, we only had we had eight we had eight members. And you're usually like an odd number when it comes to boards and commissions. And so we actually then looked at it, and there's been a large interest in the in the commission since our formation.

As we as we stated in our testimony, part of that comes from the activities that we have been doing.

And the other thing is that we're looking to making sure that we hit out there. There's a huge diversity just in our acronym alone. And so we encourage you to pass this bill, add give youth a voice on the commission, ensuring that you have an a secret reserved for them. Far too long. Do we not pay attention to those younger younger generations?

And I I believe that's a huge mistake. We all do. We have to commission. And in closing, we hope that you will, visit us on Tuesday for, queer day at the Capitol. Will be there from eleven to one on the 4th Floor so you could see exactly the kind of things that, I've has been sparking interest in our commission.

Thank you. Again, thank you for hearing the bill. We hope that you will pass it out.

Thank you very much. It's nice to hear that you have so much interest when other commissions have trouble making quorum. So that's fantastic. We also had written testimony in support from HOKUPAC and one individual in opposition. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this matter?

Seeing none, members, are there any questions?

I do, chair. Thank you, chair. Piggybacking on what you mentioned about quorum, if I could ask the commission,

maybe ask Hawaii State Yes.

Are there any concerns about meeting quorum with these additional members should the bill pass? Because I've been on boards where it's been a challenge to meet quorum, and therefore, it gets stalled in terms of decision making.

We meet every month unlike other commissions, and we we only had one time in those in the last eighteen, nineteen months of us meeting where we had an issue with quorum, and that was due to the fact we had to change the date at the last minute because of a scheduling hiccup where it's our normal meeting location. So we have not had any opportunity. We have not and we should this bill make

it through, we will be working with the speaker as well as the Senate president to making sure that they have their names ready to go once the bill signed into law. Because we are aware that the minute this is signed into law that we do have to meet the quorum requirements for an 11 member board versus a eight member board.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mary. Thank you

for your response. Thank you, chair.

Okay. Any other questions? Seeing none, we'll move on to our next measure, which is HB 2006 relating to child well-being, which requires the Department of Human Services to do a program where they give cash to, pregnant women and, mothers of babies. First up, we have the Department of Human Services in person. Thank you.

Thank you for being here today.

Good morning, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. Catherine Scardino with here on behalf of director Yamani. We stand on our written testimony and offer comments.

K. Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I think that it is really important for, those that may be viewing this hearing to learn about your written testimony, to learn what it is we already do with our TANF funds for for the intended beneficiaries of this program, and what some of the requirements are of the TANF program. What kind of strings are attached to those funds?

Okay. Yes. Thank you for the question and the opportunity to provide more information. The department provides administers a TANF financial assistance program. That's the monthly recurring financial benefits that we provide to eligible families with dependent children.

The benefits in order for a family to be eligible, there are certain criterias that must be met. For example, obviously, residents of the state, furnishing social security number, meaning the citizenship or qualified immigrant status, as well as the income threshold. In addition to that, there are other program requirements such as if there's an absent parent in in the home for a child that's receiving benefits, then the family or the parent or caregiver must cooperate with child support enforcement agency.

So if paternity was not established, that's one of the requirements. In addition to that, if child support is not established yet, then they need to also cooperate with that requirement.

In addition to that, the state is required to administer a work program for TANF recipients. And so for families who are eligible, they're required to participate with our first to work program. And so through the first to work program, we provide case management services as well as work related activities, such as job search assistance, job readiness training.

We support education, vocational training, and we also provide supportive services in order for, the participants to successfully engage in the program, such as childcare subsidy, transportation assistance, work, and education related expenses. In addition to our TANF program and our TANF work program, we also provide supportive services through many of which are contracted with community based organizations.

And so many of those services fall within the four TANF purposes. So Social Security Act section four zero one does outline the four purposes. Purpose one is providing direct assistance to families so children may be careful in their own homes or in the homes of their relatives. Purpose two basically promotes and encourages employment.

Yeah. I I think I think the first one is one that applies, so maybe we'll skip the other ones. K. But, anyways, thank you. And what about in terms of of financial assistance that's given?

The financial assistance,

based on the revised statute, we there it set sets the minimum the maximum benefit levels. So recently, we increased the benefit levels to the maximum, which is 62 62% of the 2,006 federal poverty level.

So how much money is that?

That, I don't have the amount, but I believe a family of either three or four may be receiving about a little over $900 per month.

Thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to our next testifier, we have in person Hawaii Public Health Institute.

Hello, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. I'm Chris Kaufman from the Hawaii Public Health Institute. We're in support of this measure. Poverty is a matter of public health. The first year of life is uniquely challenging, window for brain development and long term well-being.

Hawaii's child poverty rate has increased sharply in recent years. It's gone from 9%, in from in from the 2019 to 2021 range up to 12% now. It's about 37,000 children. And so we see this as a pathway for addressing poverty. The proposal is modigated modeled on Michigan's Rx Kids program.

That program had very tangible benefits for, the commute for, especially, the Flint community. There was, it was when it was evaluated, it was seen there was an 18% reduction in preterm birth, a 27% reduction in low birth weight. There was a 29% reduction in neonatal intensive care unit admissions. It had huge tangible benefits, generated 6 over $6,000,000 in Health Care Savings while providing over $14,000,000 in direct financial assistance to vulnerable families.

We think this is something that could improve access to care services, help families meet basic needs that support healthy pregnancies and childhood development.

It's a great intervention to intervene in poverty driven health challenges. And so for those reasons, we hope that you will despite some of the concerns that were outlined by the Department of Human Services, we hope that you'll move this measure forward. It's we expanded the child tax credit nationally during the pandemic. We saw a 50% reduction in child poverty in our nation.

So we hope that you'll move this vehicle forward so we can continue to have this conversation about how we might construct this program and imagine the new pathways for a possibility in addressing child poverty in our state.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you very much. Next up, we have Hawaii Children Network Speaks on Zoom. Are you present?

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. I'm Nicole Wu from Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks. We also support this bill. We know that early childhood and perinatal pregnancy time are super important for the development of children. And we also have evidence from other countries.

There's, like, a 140 countries that have this. And as Chris said, the child tax credit here in The United States for one year when it was greatly expanded and it led to a historic decline in poverty. As we all many of you know, we have the largest amount of TANF reserve funds in the country when you look at, what our annual block grant is. We have more than four times our annual block grant in reserves.

So if there is a way to spend, this money, on this program, it seems like a very, wise way to invest in the future of our children.

Just to let you know, Tennessee used to have more TANF reserve funds as a percent of their block grant. They've managed to whittle it down to about half of what it was, so now we have the most in the country. They funded a pilot program for seven nonprofits serving low income families. So there might be a little bit more flexibility, you know, if we can think creatively. So I encourage you to move this bill along so we can continue in this discussion session.

Thank you.

And thank you very much. Next up, we have one individual on Zoom. Is Holly j?

Hi. Yes. I'm here.

Go ahead.

Okay. Aloha, chair, vice chair, and members of committee on human services and and homelessness. My name is Holly Jim McAnes. I am a mother, a community member, and a member of the Oahu Youth Action Board. I am here in strong support of eight of House bill 2000 2006, which establishes the Hawaii RX kids program to improve the economic stability of Households with very with very young children through a onetime prenatal payment and ongoing monthly support.

While I was pregnant with my 10 old baby, Honey, I have experienced I experienced severe nausea, and I could barely keep food down. For much of my pregnancy, I was only able to stomach crackers, poi, vegetables, and coconut water and water. But four months pregnant, I had fainted and I was also in a transitional home, so I couldn't really afford a lot of money. At that time, I was denied from SNAP because of paperwork issues, and I was later rewarded with WIC.

At seven months pregnant, I had I had to extract a tooth, and only upon my appointment, I was required to buy a $50 medication that would help with the bleeding.

And, it was specifically for pregnant women because it would stop the bleeding without clogging of blood or blood clots. And that blood clot could possibly harm the baby. But I was in that moment where I couldn't afford the $50 medication. And luckily, I was able to get help from my parents, but not every mother has a support like like I do. Not expecting no expecting mother should have to worry about whether she can afford food or necessary medical care.

Direct financial assistance beginning in pregnancy would help mothers meet their basic needs, reduce stress, and support healthier pregnancies. Continued support after birth would promote stability and better outcomes for children during this most during their most formative years. House bill 206 is an investment in families and child welfare and in Hawaii future. I urge I respectfully urge you to support and pass this measure. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you

very much for your testimony. We also had comments from the state procurement office, support from early childhood action strategy and Indivisible Hawaii and Appleseed, Aloha United Way, Oahu Youth Action Board, and then about 26 individuals all in support. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none. Members, are there any questions for our testifiers?

No? Okay. They will.

Is State Procurement Office here?

They are not. They just submitted.

No worries. I'm good. Thank you.

Okay. Next up, we have HB 2167 relating to youth homelessness, which requires the Office of Youth Services to do a pilot program to give homeless youth financial assistance. And first up for that measure, we have—is the Office of the Public Defender here? In support.

Aloha. My name is Darcia Forrester. I'm with the Office of the Public Defender, and I'm here in my capacity as a Supervisor of our Juvenile Division. I did submit written testimony, but I just wanna supplement it.

When we talk with our 16 and 17 year old kids that we work with that are in foster care or who are living either in a homeless or semi homeless situation with their families, the two biggest things that they worry about are, can I find a job, and where am I gonna live?

And I have personally witnessed the stress that comes with worrying about where you're gonna live. And getting a job is part and parcel with that because you have to be able to afford to live somewhere. It's usually someplace super cheap. It's not the greatest location because it's your starter apartment or a starter situation. So, we are in full support of this pilot program.

Anything that can help our youth exiting the foster care system or youth who are turning 18, who come from families that have very limited incomes, or families that are living in homelessness, would be very much appreciated. We've just seen how the smallest helps when it comes to financial assistance can really help a youth feel like that they can transition to an adulthood safely. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Is the Office of Youth Services—in person with comments.

Aloha. Good morning, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. My name is Leanne Gillespie. I'm the Executive Director for the Office of Youth Services. I stand on my written testimony offering comments and requesting clarifications.

We support the intent of this bill. I am available for any questions. If you have any questions.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here.

I'm guessing there will be questions for you. On Zoom, we have, in support, Hawaiian Children's Action Network Speaks.

Aloha, chair, vice chair—oops, sorry—members of the committee. Yes, we also support this bill. We know that young people, especially when they're needing foster care, are especially vulnerable to homelessness. This seems like a great way to pilot some ways to prevent them from falling into houselessness and making sure that they have those stability that they need to have better features. Let's pass this bill. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We also have, on Zoom, Efren Arones from Oahu Youth Action Board. Is he here? Not here. In support.

Hi. Efren, Efren not here, but I'm a Treasurer of the Oahu Youth Action Board, and I will be submitting an individual testimony. But I wanted, I wanted to say that we are still in support of this bill.

Thank you very much. We then—we have three individuals in support, and one of them would be you, Holly J. So, go ahead with your personal testimony in support.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, and members of the community. My name is Holly Jim McAnes, and like I, as I said before, my name is—oh, sorry. I am a mother, a community member, and a member of the Oahu Youth Action Board. At the age of 22, I made the decision to come out of my parents' home and try to be—try to live independently. This, while being in a master's program, was very hard.

I had to, I had to find a full-time job, and it was very hard for me to go throughout life without worrying about food to sustain myself. And luckily, I was able to receive help from nonprofits and some other resources that helped me transition to transitional homes, and find my plan to be stable and independent. The support played a vital role in helping me move forward towards self-deficiency—or self-sufficiency.

This private program will provide similar support to youth who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Stable housing assistance during the critical stage of life can improve long-term outcomes.

Funding would also strengthen the capacity of nonprofit organizations and local agencies to provide coordinated services. Without our support, vulnerable youth face higher risk of unemployment, poor health, and involvement with the justice system, outcomes that result in greater long-term causes to the state. Investing in some housing stability can reduce reliance on emergency services and strengthen our communities. For this reason, I respectfully urge you to support and pass House Bill 2167.

The pilot program is a practical—practical investment in Hawaii youth and in our state's future. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you very much. We also have, in support on Zoom, Judith Clark. Is she there?

Aloha, chair, members of the committee. I am Judith Clark, a community advocate, a youth homelessness service provider for twenty five years, and a person with lived experience of young adult homelessness. I strongly support House Bill 2167. When I was 20, I was laid off from work and could not pay the rent on my apartment. It was a miserable and terrifying time.

I was hungry and cold. I was afraid of being assaulted or raped. When an elderly friend allowed me to sleep on the floor of his senior living apartment, I knew that he was not allowed to have overnight visitors and that my presence was jeopardizing his housing. I was one of the fortunate ones. Within two months, I found another job and ended my homelessness experience.

Rent for the—support for those two months would have made a huge difference in my life. In Hawaii, the gap between what a young adults can afford and the actual cost of housing is huge. One unexpected medical bill or car repair bill can be the tipping point into long-term homelessness. A small amount of assistance now can prevent years of dependence on public assistance and long-term homelessness. Thank you for this opportunity to testify.

Thank you very much. We also have Coda Daily—not present—in support. And then, we had written testimonies in support from CARES, from the—comments from the State Procurement Office, comments from Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions, support from High Hopes, Action Opportunity for Youth Action Hawaii, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Point Source Youth, and then a handful of individuals. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none. Members, are there any questions?

Chair, a question, excuse me, for OIS. Hi. Thank you for your testimony. In another hearing, we addressed, or we discussed the issue of homelessness. And so, I'm curious to know whether or not OIS currently coordinates or partners with any of the programs from the city and county of Honolulu to address the issue of homelessness involving young adults.

So, let me rephrase that question. So, actually, any of the counties. So, are there any of the counties that OIS is working with to address this statewide issue involving young adults and homelessness?

We work directly with a lot of the community agencies and non-profit agencies to look at homelessness and how we can assist youth, but all of our contracts have to go through procurement.

Okay. Is there any partnership with the core program that is with the city and county of Honolulu?

Not currently.

Okay. Thank you. No further questions, Chair.

Go ahead.

Question, Chair. Thank you, Chair.

Yes.

I'll ask if you could stay up.

Sure.

So, thank you for your testimony. It's, it's very good to hear feedback from the agency who would be impacted probably the most from this. If we were to, to adopt the language to define an R—the RFP process—for this, there were some questions about clarity. What kind of language would you like to see in this bill for it, with it moving forward, that, that you would like to see it when it reaches the, the finish line?

If we put the RFP process and if I was to say that our goal would be to service potentially for the pilot, 30 to maybe a 100 youths per year for the two years, based off that information, how many, like, full time positions would you think you might need? That kind of language so that that way we can perhaps incorporate it to help address some of those those concerns. Yeah.

Thank you, Chair, for your question. So, I, I think we need some clarification on some of the other issues before I can provide that. It is the intent for us to disperse these cash financial assistance. It's the intent for us to contract with community-based agencies to do that. I mean, those have—those operational pieces have a lot of direct impact in kind of what the cost would be, and kind of what the staffing would need to be.

So, out of those two pathways, which way do you think would be the most conducive?

Well, I mean, I think given this particular project, we put in our testimony that kind of our, our recommendation, we think the best placement for this project is through the Grant in Aid Program. That would come under Chapter 92 F. There—I, I don't, I don't know if there's another way regarding procurement, and procurement does take up to a year, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. Right? So, the ability to serve, you know, 30 or a 100, comes into play for that piece.

Sure. Thank you.

Yep. Go ahead. Yes.

Thank you. I think my colleagues and I are kind of headed down the same path. We're trying to figure out, one, how to fund the program, but have a target or measure that this pilot program is actually working so we can look at the funding allocations, like the return on investment.

And so, to my colleague's question, is that done in the contract, or is that being done through their procurement process? Because I'm, I'm, I'm okay with procurement, but to your point, it can take a long time. And we're looking to accelerate the spend down on the funds so that we can start touching the nonprofits who are actually servicing these units. I think that's—I think that's what we're trying to understand.

How do we word it in a manner that we get the metrics that we're accomplishing the goal of this pro—program?

So, I'm not sure I have the answer for you on that. Might have to get back to you on, on the, the procurement piece. But we would put the performance—if, if we were contracting with community-based agencies, we would put the performance metrics in the—into the—RFP process saying, this is what you have to do. This is how you have to accomplish, accomplish, right, the, the goals of the project.

And this is the information that you have to provide to us, right, as, as the accountable agency for that.

Absolutely.

That would be in the written contract.

In the written—and I think that's the other piece. We wanna word this bill in a way that gives the deliverables to help you write the contract to prove the efficacy of the program.

And that would greatly help us.

Okay.

I apologize. You can tell she's done this before.

Okay. Yeah.

Because right now, we don't know.

Sure. Sure.

We generally, we, you know, we come from a standpoint from we don't—we look at the whole individual and trying to break the cycle of homelessness. So, when we provide homeless assistance—not in cash like this, we have not done that before—we look at the services to wrap that person in to prevent future, right, accounts and situations.

Yeah. No. I mean, I'm not sure how my colleagues view this, but I understand through testimony, it's a hand up, not a hand up. We want to get them bridged from one situation that created the homelessness to the next one so that they can be self-sufficient.

Exactly. And so, I'm looking for the right language that, you know, these payments may sunset after six months where we can wrap you into other services, but we need your help, like, kind of guiding that.

And I would have to reach out to other agencies that have done financial assistance. We have not—we've never done financial assistance. It's just not my expertise to be able to comment on how to do that.

Great. No. Thank you. Thank you for the feedback. And I—it's all like baby steps. Right?

Yes.

You end up in a situation, like so many of our testifiers, a bad car bill, a dentist bill, and before you know it, you're—you can't afford to eat, let alone you can't afford your rent. And we're just trying to close that gap.

Thank you. Thank you, chair. Appreciate that.

Last, last thing. You know, clearly, this committee feels like the, the intent of this bill is really useful, and we'd all like to see it move forward.

I feel like the details are not thought out yet, and so, I would really love for you to work with vice chair, whose bill this is, and we'll delay decision making to give him time to to talk to you and work through the details, because, as someone who actually is working in this area, you are actually best positioned to help us figure out the best way to go about it. So, we'll, we'll let that happen offline. Yeah. Thanks, chair.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Chair.

Oh, go ahead.

...Can you please go over the current services that your organization does provide for the vulnerable youth? And the bill describes them as those experiencing homelessness, transitioning out of foster care, fleeing domestic or family violence, or hitting unsafe home environments. In those categories, what specific agencies, nonprofits, do you currently partner with to, to provide services?

So, we provide a continuum of care for residential services. Our focus is youth, to prevent them from moving into the juvenile justice system or moving further through the juvenile justice system. And so, we serve at-risk youth and young adults. We have contracts for emergency shelter services. We have the safe spaces shelter program.

We have transitional residential, kind of an—we have both kind of intensive residential treatment, kind of step down from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility. We also have some other residential programs.

Are you focusing at capacity, or there's a long wait list of people trying to get services? Like—or what's the average number of, of the youth you serve in in this category?

I don't have those numbers. I can get those numbers maybe from last year.

Okay. If

you could send those to the committee, then I'll share them with everybody. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate your testimony. We also have okay. That was it. And seeing no more questions, we will move on to our next measure, which is relating to Medicaid, HB 2224, which basically gives Medicaid more flexibility around pharmaceutical benefits management.

And first, have the state health planning and development agency. Can I see Jack?

Thank you very much. Okay. Next up, we have, department of human services.

Thank you very much. Okay. Next up, we have, department of human services.

Is that on June?

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee and Meredith Nichols representing Department of Human Services. And we stand on our testimony and appreciate the testimony of Doctor. Lewin just ahead of us. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. We also have the Hawaii Pharmacists Association on Zoom in support.

Good morning, Chair Martin, Vice Chair Olds, and members of the committee. Corey Sanders, Executive Director of the Hawaii Pharmacists Association. I'll stand on our written testimony with just one additional comment, but this initiative is not intended to make any changes at this point in time to the oversight abilities of DHS, but we've been tracking a lot of national trends and cost savings that are associated with DHS having more oversight over our pharmacy benefit managers.

So, we want to ensure that there's no statutory barriers or restrictions if and when the time comes for them to take more control. I will stand by for any questions that you all may have, and thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you very much. We also had in support, one individual with written testimony. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none, members, are there any questions? Go ahead.

Thank you, chair for it. Doctor Nguyen, please. I'm just curious. This, repeals the provision from Act four passing 20 o five. Do you recall the reason why that was passed?

And the reason

And, in what ways if the bill is not passed, in what ways are are are your hands currently tied because of this?

K. Thank you.

Any other questions? Seeing none, we'll move on to our next measure. HB 1626 relating to youth penalties. This prohibits the assessment of any fees, fines, or court costs against that person, during their minority, so youth, or against their family guardians. And it also encourages the use of community service and other programs employing based principles.

It repeals penalties imposed on parents, guardians, and others associated with unaccompanied children in streets and unmarried minors in dance halls, if we still have dance halls. So, we have heard this bill the last two years and have always passed it out and made a lot of amendments. It's about a 100 page bill, so when you make an amendment on one part, sometimes it ripples through the whole document, and I'm hoping that this is the last time we hear this.

So our first testifier is Department of Education with comments. Do we have the DOE on Zoom?

Nope. Okay. They are not here. We have the Office of the Public Defender in support.

Thank you so much.

We also have, ACLU of Hawaii. Are they here? No. In support. On Zoom.

Please go ahead. In support.

Yes. Aloha, Doctor. Martin, vice chair, old, and members. My name is doctor Jamie Mahayalani Miller, and I am the co executive director of Ekolu Meinui. And, I stand on my written testimony, but I just wanna point out a few things.

The first thing is the 'aina based education piece that was mentioned from the previous speaker. It came from last year, from our OPL that did the House Concurrent Resolution, number 174. So they're busy right now. During after school hours, they're calling all different programming across the island, across the state, excuse me, and asking them if they would be, a place that would welcome youth that are, the community service hours. So they're putting together a list, and, we'll be submitting it submitting the list.

And that's one of the projects that they have, to update the list, continuously update the list. The other thing that I wanted to point out was also that, if this measure does not get adopted this year, and we really hope that it does, that what what will end up happening and what continues to happen is that this becomes the legacy juvenile debt remains legally enforceable.

So that means license holds block employment, collection referrals, damage credits, barriers to housing and military enlistment, and unresolved court obligations follow young people well into adulthood, and that's what we do not want. We don't want a mistake at 15 blocking opportunity at 25. So, we are in strong support of this bill, and thank you folks for the opportunity and allowing me to testify.

Thank you very much. If you wouldn't mind reaching out to my office, I would love to put my nonprofit on that list. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

We also have the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on Zoom.

Aloha, Kaka, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. McKenna Woodward on behalf of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. I'm not unable to be there in person today, but we are in strong support of this measure. It is critical for our Keiki and for the Lahuai, and for working tirelessly on this bill for the last, three years as you mentioned. Just wanna highlight, you know, a bit from our testimony.

If the state is truly sincere about moving toward a restorative rehabilitative model of corrections, this is a really great way to move the needle. As mentioned previously, youth penalties really only serve to unfairly punish Johanna who cannot afford to pay their way out of accountability, and that's really evidenced by the fact that only 17% of youth fees and fines are paid.

So replacing this outdated practice as many other states have already done with based community service allows youth to meaningfully participate in programs that strengthen connection to culture and place into the. So for the opportunity to provide testimony on this critical measure, and I I will stay on for questions.

Thank you very much. Next up, we have an individual in support, Carrie Ann Chirota. Is she on Zoom? Not present. Okay.

We have written support from the judiciary, from Debt Free Justice Hawaii, Opportunity for Youth Action Hawaii, Na'o P O Y Y, Oahu Youth Action Board, Libertarian Party, Adult Friends of Youth, and a handful of individuals. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure?

Good morning, chair I'm Andrew Park. I'm from the judiciary.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

You did you did you say

that you were gonna be here in person, but I am very appreciative that you are. Thank you.

Thank you. It was submitted as written testimony. I apologize. Good morning, honorable members of the committee. I wanted to let the committee know that I was here because I anticipate there might be questions for the judiciary about this bill.

As the chair indicated, there have been prior iterations of this bill which have passed out of this committee. As the committee is probably aware, the judiciary's position had previously been essentially no position, but offering testimony indicating that this was in fact evidence based and consistent with the practices of the Hawaii family courts. As, deputy public defender Forrester indicated, the bill's been worked up.

I remember back when, Rep Mizuno, was chairing this committee, there was a lot of work done to this bill, to include suggestions and requests that the judiciary has made, in particular with regards to payment for services utilizing insurance. We're appreciative of all the prior work in this bill.

Our ability to support this now is really based on the off season collaboration that we've been able to have with the introducers or the drafters of this bill. And I did wanna highlight that it as deputy public defender Forrester indicated, it doesn't impact restitution.

Restitution is a terrific tool that courts still have available to them, which is rehabilitative in nature, helps youth understand, that when their actions cause money damage or other damage to individuals or organizations, that they can be held responsible for helping to fix that damage that they've caused.

As a family court judge on the juvenile docket, for over three years exclusively doing juvenile cases, I I can't remember an instance, where I had a youth appear before me and think to myself, gee, I wish I could make this kid pay a $50 fine, and they'd really learn their lesson. The rest of the gamut of, rehabilitative measures is available to us and will remain available to us if this bill is passed, including community service, deployment of appropriate services, probation, incarceration, and youth prison.

This simply removes the assessment of fines and fees. I'll be available for any questions, and I appreciate this community's consideration.

Thank you very much. I appreciate you being here in person and available for questions. Okay. Members, are there any questions?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Did I ask did I ask if anybody else wishes to testify on this measure? Even if you weren't signed up, you can come up to the podium and testify. I'm sorry?

Oh, okay. Go ahead.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone here in person that would like to stand up and testify? You're welcome to do so. You're here. Okay.

No pressure. I'll say that members, are there any questions? Go ahead.

For Judge, I think think it's the third time we've had this discussion on this topic. Your testimony says as Hawaii family courts rarely rarely impose fines, fees, or court costs against minors or their parents, this bill would not present a significant change in the current court operations. So if it wouldn't change that much, what would change, and do you still feel the need for the passage of

this bill? Thank you, rep Garcia. The family courts don't, wherever possible, impose cost or fees on on youth. One of the things I believe we're asking for is the delayed implementation because our district courts are not necessarily the same as family courts. Family courts, we use this legacy system where everything's kind of still on paper.

Our district courts have transitioned to electronic filing with the Judiciary Information Management system and judiciary electronic filing and service. And there are certain fees that are not necessarily waivable, for example, like a $7 driver's education fee that Kinda gets attached to every case, the better

traffic court cases. So those fees be for for, like, traffic offenses. Right?

Those fees would be for traffic offenses, including traffic crimes. And if the district court would exercise their concurrent jurisdiction over a traffic crime, like, say, a driving without license or, you know, things same things of that sort, then that case might go to district court instead of the family court, and then you'd have to maybe reprogram the systems to not automatically assess that $7 fee. I don't sit in district court.

I practiced there for a while, as an attorney, but that would be the kind of impact on that. And with regards to what's the need for this, you know, as I think this body is aware, things change from time to time, and I might not get reappointed this year.

Right? And someone else might come in and have a different non evidence based view on on things, and they may begin imposing fines and fees and court costs on youth and families who are unable to pay. And I think that where we've identified a best practice, we've consistently been applying a best practice. It would make sense to align the statutes with the best practice.

Just a quick follow-up, sir. So that's the case for family court. So in most family court instances, minors won't be assessed fees currently. If they're in different courts, traffic court, district court, that could possibly happen, like the example you gave. Correct?

Correct. Okay. That's clear. Thank you.

I please follow-up one more, please, your honor. Thank you for being here. Quick question. Is it different across county? Do some counties tend to impose fines and fees, whereas others are more lenient and don't?

Have you seen a striation in the system in that way?

Among the family courts, no. The family court judges meet, monthly. We have a three day symposium for family court judges across the state once a year, and we all receive the same training. We study the same materials, and we apply the same best practices across the district courts. I can't speak for every district court.

I do remember practicing and, you know, things were slightly different among the different circuits. But as a whole, I think the kind of assumption is that a minor earns low income because of their status as a minor in the same way that they can't enter into contract enter into valid contracts because of a minority.

So typically speaking, it's been my experience that when monetary assessments or fines were imposed, they would frequently be converted to community service, if any way, to allow the youth themselves who has been engaged in, you know, social conduct or whatever the case may be to ensure that that youth themselves is engaged in the rehabilitative measure rather than potentially having the family member kind of kind of bail them out by paying a fee for them.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, chair. Anu, any other questions?

I'm trying to say this in in a way that I'm not gonna get in trouble. Having experienced the various gyms changeovers, at least most recently in the family court, we were the last court to move over to the electronic filing system, and it was still difficult even though it had occurred the change overhead occurred, you know, in the circuit civil, the circuit criminal, the district criminal, district civil, the four way transition. Frankly, there are still some bugs here and there.

I think to ensure the best possible implementation of this measure, you know, we assessed it in July, was what we assessed it as to taking into consideration the testing, the potential code changes. That's our request.

Whatever this committee, notices, whatever this committee does, and we understand that, we're gonna work with you.

Thank you for coming today. Thank you, judge. Okay. Zach Garcia, did you have a number?

No. Good. Thank you, though.

Thank you. Alright. Moving on to our second to last measure, which is somewhat related. This is HB 1690, which expands the statewide curfew, which the previous measure gets rid of completely, to minors under 18 years of age instead of 16. And we have, testimony in opposition from the Office of the Public Defender.

Next up, we have the judiciary in opposition.

Good morning. Again, vice chair, vice chair, honorable members of the committee. I'm not Scott Blue, and I apologize for not

being Scott You can just be who you are.

We will stand on our written testimony in respectful opposition of this bill. As this committee has likely read, our primary concerns involve potential, the potential for running afoul of various federal requirements, which may lead to the loss of funding. I'll be available for any questions if you folks have any.

Thank you very much. On Zoom, we have do we have the Office of Foreign Affairs with comments?

Aloha, Kakehiyaka, chair of vice chair and members of the committee. Maketa Woodward on behalf of the office of Hawaiian affairs offering comments on this measure. Again, I'm unable to be there in person today, but we did just want to the introducer rep Keela for taking the time to meet with us regarding this bill to go over some of our concerns.

We understand the intent of the measure is in response some late night public safety and community concerns, that have recently occurred on the West Side Of Oahu, but we expressed similar concerns to the previous testifiers, that this bill as written would unnecessarily create another pipeline into the juvenile justice system. Our research and policy experience at OHA indicate formal court involvement for low level youth offenses can increase rather than decrease the likelihood of continued justice system contact.

So to that end, we were encouraged to hear from our conversations with the introducer, that there may be some openness to removing the provision that would raise the curfew age to 18, and then subsequently result in some of the issues that the previous testifiers mentioned and possibly restructuring the penalty structure to more closely align with the previous measure that was heard at HB 1626 to replace, youth fees and fines or, in this case, possibly incarceration with ina based community service.

We feel this could, you know, address the root of the issue a little bit more closely as far as those public safety concerns with, certain youth being out late at night. So we appreciate the discussion on this measure and for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you very much. Next, we had HPD Honolulu Police Department with comments in writing and one individual with written opposition. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Please come up.

I don't know.

wasn't on my radar. So my apologies. Chair, vice chair, members of the committee, Leanne Gillespie, executive director for the Office of Youth Services. We oppose this bill. The state of Hawaii has spent decades on juvenile justice reform.

We've spent millions of dollars over the decades to divert youth from the juvenile justice system. Increasing criminality and the penalties to youth, does not align with our philosophy and the way we've been, managing the juvenile justice system over the several decades. We've been quite successful in juvenile justice reform. Our, population at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, has decreased by 98%. We have been on the right track, and I respectfully request that we keep on that track.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none, members, are there any questions?

Curfew? It so okay. That is a relatively simple question. I can't give you exact numbers, but I can tell you that for a first status offense, such as for curfew, the goal as was referenced by director Gillespie is to divert that youth from formal court proceedings. And the the judiciary has a formal diversion unit where judiciary probation officers can work with the youth, rapid deployment of of measures, and keep that youth out of the court system.

There's also community partners who are contracted with OIS such as Old Friends for Youth on the West Side who divert youth from the courts. So in terms of how many curfew violations we see, typically, on a week where I would have, say, 10 new arraignment plea cases, I might only have one or or zero curfew violations, which is not necessarily, like that's not universal. Right? But there were not a whole ton of curfew violations. However, there are those handful of youth who have repeated curfew violations.

Right? And those youth would get processed, non devertible because of the number of of violations, and we would see I would see those youth in the work.

I think you're right, representative Harsfield, that the penalty for curfew violation would no longer would be a law violation penalty. But a curfew violation could not itself be a law violation because a law violation is defined as an offense, which if committed by an adult would constitute a crime. And an adult necessarily cannot criminalize for being out past a certain time.

And so we would be in kind of a interesting situation where we would have a penalty that is not a status offense penalty attributable to a status offense, which would then I can't comment on what the feds would do or what they would ever. Right?

But our concern is that it would trigger potential financial repercussions and loss of benefits because it would not align with the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as reenacted in nineteen twenty fifty. Okay.

any further questions?

Okay. We we are running up against time, and and I think you know what the fate of this bill will be already. So I encourage you to keep it quick.

questions? Seeing them, we'll move to our last measure, which is HB 2012 h d one. So this was already heard in education, relating to community literacy labs. And for this one, it's a pilot project program for two years, and we have Department of Education, not here, with comments. And then we have one written testimony in support from the Hawaii State Public Library System.

Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none, there is no one to ask questions of, so we will proceed directly to decision making. And, first up, we have HB 1877, which was relating to the adding members to the state LGBTQ plus commission. And for this one, chair recommends technical amendments and defecting the date. Vice chair for the call, please.

Pointing on HB 1877. Our chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and vice chair vote aye. Representative Amato? Aye.

Representative Hartsfield?

Aye.

Representative Keohokalole? Aye. Representative Takayama excused. Representative Takayama, excuse.

Oh. Seeing, the

presence Seeing

the presence of, representative Takayama, we are voting on HB 1877. How would you like to vote?

It's, adding members to the LG.

Representative Alcos? No vote. Representative Garcia?

Excused. Okay.

Excused. Sure. Your recommendation is

sure it's an item? Sure.

Thank you. Yeah.

No. I do not want you to vote.

That was a picture of meeting you.

Share your information, Claudia.

Next up, we have HB 2006, which which was the one that proposed universal, regardless of income level, financial subsidies to pregnant women and mothers of babies. And this one, while I do agree that supporting young families get their start is super important, there was a lot of problems with the funding source. You can't use TANF funds for people of high income.

And if you give money to people with lower incomes and you jeopardize their, eligibility for a whole slew of programs that already exist and are quite generous and are not pilots or one time, but are ongoing programs. So I think that this needs more work, and for that reason, I'm going to defer it.

Next up, we have HB 21767, leading to homeless youth. And for this one, as you could see

in our hearing, there was

a lot of discussion and a lot of enthusiasm for this. So I'd like to delay decision making till next Tuesday to give, the primary introducer or vice chair time to work through some of the details with the department. Next up, we have HB 2224 relating to Medicaid. For this one, I would just recommend, this gives the department, the ability to negotiate with pharmaceutical benefits management, and I would just like to defect the date. And vice chair for the vote, please.

Voting on HB 2224. Chair's recommendation is passed with amendments. Voting excused absence of representative Takenouchi. Any members voting no? Due with the reservations.

Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Next up, we have HB 1626 relating to youth penalties. For this one, I would recommend just adopting the DOE amendments that clarify that, wherever it says principal, it's principal or designee. So it doesn't have to be the principal itself, himself, or herself. And also to defect the date, but put in the committee report that the effective date should be 07/01/2027 to allow courts to make necessary operational changes. Vice Chair for the vote, please.

I'm so sorry. Any comments or questions from our members? I'd like to share the vote, please.

Voting on HB 1626, chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. I'm noting the excused absence of representative Takayuchi. Any members voting no?

Any reservations? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you very much. Next up, we have HB 1690 relating to minors. This is going to be to impose a universal curfew on minors under the age of 18. And Aye, I'm gonna defer this measure based on our testimony for today. Next up we have HB 2012, HD one, relating to community literacy labs, and the chair recommends to pass it as is, but to include in the committee report that we need to get a cost recommendation for finance committee.

It's missing that, and it with their in no previous versions, they didn't have any mention of an actual budget. And vice chair for more. Oh, any questions or comments? Please remind me next time. I apologize for not remembering that for some of our previous measures.

I'm seeing none, vice chair.

Voting HB 2012 H D 1. Chair's recommendation is to pass unamended. Noting the excused absence of representative Takenouchi and main members voting no. Reservations? Chair, recommendations are not.