Committees open safety net for needy

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The House Finance and Senate Ways and Means committees last night approved measures to appropriate $2 million for food and emergency shelter, extend unemployment benefits and provide temporary health insurance for the uninsured.

This came after social service advocates yesterday told the committees that the needs of the poor and unemployed have greatly increased since the Sept. 11 terror attacks and that the Legislature must act quickly to help.

Several social service advocates said the original bill — which would have appropriated $1 million for emergency shelter and $250,000 for food for the needy — wasn't enough.

The committees last night increased the food appropriation to $1 million, but Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-14th (Palama, 'Alewa Heights), questioned why more wasn't voted for shelters.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-11th (McCully, Mo'ili'ili, Manoa), said lawmakers would have the opportunity to appropriate more money during the regular session.

Susan Au Doyle, co-chairwoman of Hawai'i Together, a statewide committee convened by Gov. Ben Cayetano to address human welfare issues resulting from the Sept. 11 attacks, said there is an estimated $5 million need for shelter assistance over the next five months. She also said the estimated need for food for the next six months is $800,000.

Patricia McManaman of Na Loio — Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center also said during the hearing the Legislature should appropriate at least $1 million for food.

Kathy Hasegawa, executive director of the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance, said she recently saw several families living in their cars outside the Institute for Human Services because there was no room at the shelter.

"We need to remember that if hundreds or possibly thousands of people become homeless, the costs will be far higher than we can even begin to estimate."

The committees also passed a bill providing a temporary health insurance program and reimbursements for payments for health insurance covered under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, also known as COBRA.

Julyn Ching, an unemployed worker from the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort, had urged the bill's passage. Describing her situation, she said she is a diabetic and that she has to set aside one week of unemployment compensation just for her medication.

"I still have to pay rent, electricity, water, food, auto insurance and the like," she said. "The longer this trend continues, I am afraid that I no longer can provide for (my) family and myself."

The temporary health insurance program — which involve monthly premiums of $63 per enrollee — would be administered by the state Department of Human Services. Department director Susan Chandler said the program would not be in place until Dec. 1. She said it would not include dental benefits because the program will not be able to use any federal money.

The committees also passed a measure to provide a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits. The bill received unanimous public support, although Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Leonard Agor expressed concern over the solvency of the unemployment insurance trust fund. The cost of the additional benefits are estimated at $50 million and will be drawn from the trust fund.

The committees shelved a bill that would have allowed business owners with at least a 50 percent ownership interest an exemption from paying into the state unemployment insurance system. The measure would have allowed employee-owners who voluntarily terminate employment to receive unemployment insurance benefits.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said provisions of the bill would violate federal law. Others said it is unfair that owner-employees who pay into the system cannot collect unemployment insurance when they voluntarily shut down.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.