A bill to shore up at least $52 million in shortfalls this fiscal year for general assistance payments to the poor, mental-health services and the state's community hospital system advanced yesterday, despite concerns about how to pay for the emergency appropriations.

The measure got strong support from dozens of mental-health advocates and social service providers, who warned lawmakers that recent cutbacks in services are hurting the state's most vulnerable residents and could result in costlier problems, including homelessness and more emergency room visits.

But Lingle administration officials said the emergency appropriations will put further stress on the state's worsening budget deficit. This fiscal year alone, the state faces a $90 million shortfall and has already made hefty departmental cuts in an effort to rein in spending.

"We just have no money," state Department of Budget and Finance deputy director Robert Piper told lawmakers.

Members of the Senate Human Services Committee agreed it would be difficult to fund the appropriations. But they said that funding the services is a priority and that simply accepting the shortfalls wasn't an option. The shortfalls, which have resulted in cutbacks in mental-health services and general assistance, are falling on the "most vulnerable in our community," said state Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-13th (Kalihi, Nu'uanu), chairwoman of the Human Services Committee.

The bill, now headed to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, would funnel $34.5 million to community hospitals on the Neighbor Islands to ensure they don't fail, and send about $15 million to the state Adult Mental Health Division, which warned providers this month that it had run out of money and in most cases would not be able to pay them until the new fiscal year starts in July.

The bill would also appropriate $3 million to make sure general assistance payments to the poor aren't reduced.

The state had warned that it would cut the $469 payments in half to $234 per person from April through June because of a shortfall.

The general assistance program serves about 5,150 people in the state who have low or no income, and the money can be used for staples such as food, clothing and housing.

BIG TURNOUT

A standing-room-only crowd turned out for discussion on the bill yesterday afternoon. Several advocates told lawmakers that if action isn't taken to restore critical social services, hundreds of needy people would be without the basics — from mental-health case management or help during a crisis to general assistance payments needed for rent and food. The shortfalls, they said, also affect the workers at a slew of contracted service providers, which are having to cut programs and lay off staff.

"We are hanging by our fingernails," said Aliman Sears of Community Empowerment Services, which provides mental-health services. "The platform is completely pulled out from underneath our consumers. This is the time to use whatever we can to keep that platform in place."

The emergency appropriations bill has given social service providers and mental-health advocates a little hope after a spate of bad news, from cuts in mental health services to a community hospital system so strapped that it is having trouble paying suppliers. The cuts also have spurred layoffs at nonprofits and, advocates say, come as the need for social services has risen.

Greg Payton, chief executive of Mental Health Kokua, told lawmakers yesterday that one of the biggest blows for mental-health providers came earlier this month when the Adult Mental Health Division said it had no more money and would not be paying for services in most cases until the new fiscal year.

"It's almost impossible as a nonprofit to sustain services" without a reliable cash flow, he said.

In addition to the four-month lag in payments, mental-health providers have also seen drastic cuts in services. In January, AMHD capped reimbursable case management hours per client at 3.5 hours a month (from three hours a day), reduced programs and cut services to those with private insurance.

GOVERNOR OPPOSED

Debbie Shimizu, National Association of Social Workers-Hawai'i chapter executive director, said yesterday that the effects of cuts and shortfalls to health and human services will fall on those least able to shoulder them — the elderly, the sick and poor.

"Human services has to be a priority," she said.

The measure that advanced yesterday, House Bill 1064 SD1, goes against the administration's call for no emergency appropriations from the general fund this fiscal year. Though such appropriations have been common in the past to help departments with shortfalls, the governor had asked that no emergency appropriations be requested this year because of declining revenues and a growing deficit.

For lawmakers to pass an emergency appropriation, administration officials said, the governor must issue a formal notification to the Legislature. That was done in the case of HB 1064 only because the original version of the measure asked lawmakers to tap into the rainy day fund to help cover critical shortfalls. The bill that moved forward yesterday, however, seeks money from the general fund.

The governor has urged lawmakers to use $40 million from the rainy day fund to help make up shortfalls. But some lawmakers, including Chun Oakland, have resisted that out of concern that the fund would be drained when there is even greater need.