Economic Security and Equity for Children

Bolster Hawaiʻi’s Early Care and Learning Workforce

SB 2700 transmitted to Governor

Preschool Open Doors funding restored in budget

Funding for child care wage pilot included in budget, but SB 2701, which would implement the program, didn't pass

Three-bill package:

• Retaining and Recruiting Early Childhood Educators: A child care worker wage program to increase wages and an appropriation into the Early Educator Stipend fund. (HB 1940, SB 2701)
• Improving Workforce Data: Requiring annual data collection on the child care workforce to better understand how to improve and grow the field. (HB 2193 / SB 2700)
• Increasing Opportunities in Early Childhood: Creating a dedicated funding stream to support early childhood programs, restore funding to the Preschool Open Doors Program, and supporting early childhood apprenticeship programs. (SB 2702)
  
  

Lead: Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!

Child Care Provider Appreciation Month

Adopted

SR 48 / SCR 53, HR62 / HCR69

This resolution would designate the month of September 2022 as Child Care Appreciation Month.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

HB 2510 transmitted to Governor

HB 2510, HB 510, HB 1507, SB 2485, HB 2406

Also known as the Working Families Tax credit, the EITC is one of the most successful policies to help low- to moderate-income families with children keep more of what they earn by getting a tax credit. At the federal level and in most states, the EITC is refundable—which means that if the credit is worth more than a taxpayer owes in taxes, they get the rest of the credit as a tax refund. Hawaiʻi is one of the few states where they can't get such an EITC tax refund. This bill would make the Hawaiʻi EITC refundable and also make it permanent (currently it has a sunset date).

Lead: Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!

End Taxes on Diapers

HB 2414

Ending taxes on diapers and other essential items (such as period products) would be a benefit to all of our families in Hawaiʻi. This would also allow for our families in need to get the most of their stipend if passed.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Diaper Bank

Living Wage

HB 2510 transmitted to Governor

HB 2510, HB 1503 / SB 2243, SB 2018

Raise the minimum wage to a living wage of approximately $18 by 2026/27.  This legislation is desperately needed for working parents and other family members of the same household to be able to provide for themselves and their children. A living wage is needed to be able to pay for sustainable housing, food, healthcare and other expenses.

Lead: Raise Up Hawaiʻi

Pre-K to 12 Education

Afterschool Programs to Accelerate Learning

HB 1699 / SB 2564

Time spent outside of school is an invaluable part of growing up. Afterschool programs provide a safe, fun, and enriching experience for the whole child. Afterschool programs expand learning opportunities that help our children learn and grow, while helping them develop essential skills. Legislation is needed to expand the reach and quality of afterschool programs by increasing the funding for these programs.  

Lead: Hawaiʻi Afterschool Alliance

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Based Electives

HB 2350

Give more accessibility to students to learn real life skills by expanding the spectrum of more hands-on electives that would facilitate the needs of students based on their career goals. (From the Hawaiʻi Children and Youth Summit.)

Lead: Hawaiʻi Youth Services Network

Comprehensive Training for Educators on Sexual Health Topics

HCR138 / HR138, HB 1697, SB 2562

Provide comprehensive training for educators on sexual health topics that includes positive and accurate representations of LGBTQIA+ and POC communities in order to destigmatize and promote sexual health. (From the Hawaiʻi Children and Youth Summit.)

Lead: Hawaiʻi Youth Services Network

Partner for Equity and Excellence with Full-Service Community Schools

HB 1941

Hawai‘i’s schools are continuing to face more challenges brought on by the pandemic—including increasing poverty, mental health needs, rates of trauma among students, learning loss, and more. However, schools are unable to tackle all these problems on their own. A full-service community schools approach is needed to have the school become the hub of their community and coordinate relationships and resources to accelerate equitable outcomes in health, education, and employment.

As more schools in Hawai‘i are eager to become community schools, legislation is needed to expand this strategy and provide funding to implement this evidenced-based strategy.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Afterschool Alliance

Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) Parity

SB 2823

This proposal would establish a pay bonus for school psychologists who maintain a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) credential with the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). This will incentivize current school psychologists who do not currently have an NCSP to obtain one, and reward current school psychologists who maintain a higher-level credential based on on-going professional development. Additionally, it will make the state more competitive in its recruitment of school psychologists, as most other states have already established an NCSP parity.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Association of School Psychologists (HASP)

Safe Routes to School for Every Keiki

HB 2014, SB 2544

This legislation aims to ensure that every child in Hawaiʻi has the infrastructure, social support, confidence, and skills to bike, walk, roll or bus to school. To accomplish this, the bill creates a state Safe Routes to School (SRTS) advisory group that will work with Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation to develop SRTS plan and performance measures, stabilizes safe routes special fund distribution mechanism, creates a full time SRTS coordinator position within HDOT, streamlines local SRTS project and program funding to make it easier for schools and communities to apply for and receive funds, and develops funding mechanisms, planning processes and programming that are more inclusive and equitable.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute

State Credential for School Psychologists

SB 2281

This proposal, if passed, will ensure highly qualified school psychologists are hired into school psychology positions. At a time when we are facing critical shortages, this will also attract more school psychologists to the state who have specific training in the provision of school-based behavioral and mental health services.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Association of School Psychologists (HASP)

Summer Learning Programs to Accelerate Learning

SB 2818 transmitted to Governor

SB 2818

Time spent outside of school is an invaluable part of growing up. Summer programs provide a safe, fun, and enriching experience for the whole child. Summer programs expand learning opportunities that help our children learn and grow, while helping them develop essential skills. With the influx of ESSER funds, more summer programs are available for students and families. However, there is no coordination between all the summer offerings within the Hawai‘i Department of Education and the Hawai‘i Department of Human Services.

There is a critical need for intra- and inter- agency coordination of all summer programs including official summer school, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, UPLINK summer programs, A+ summer programs, credit recovery, alternative learning summer programs, other school-based summer programs and non-school based summer programs run by community-based organizations and counties. This coordination of summer programs will help to ensure that summer programs are equitable and accessible to all students, especially those who could benefit the most.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Afterschool Alliance

Support Adequately Funding Public Education

SB2819 transmitted to Governor; SB2820 didn't pass, but in the budget

SB 2819, HB 2359, HB 1511 (fixes salary compression on teacher salary scale to retain our teachers); SB 2820 (appropriates fund for differentials for hard-to-staff, SPED, and Hawaiian Immersion teachers); HB 1510 (opens up more classes on teacher pay scale)

Support the recruitment and retention of educators in our public schools. Retention of our teachers is vital for the success of our public schools to meet the needs of our students.

Examples: Reintroduce legislation to fix the salary compression on educators' pay scale, fund differentials for hard-to-fill positions, and put annual salary increases back into law. Some of the final terms will then be contractually negotiated.

We continue to lose our teachers, as their salaries are still 20% lower than districts with similar costs of living across the nation. More than 45% of our teachers in Hawaiʻi, leave before reaching five years of teaching. The salaries in the middle of the pay scale, where most of our teachers were, stalled during the furlough years, so teachers with experience are actually hurt by this salary compression. We almost fixed it before the pandemic, but unfortunately the bill was a casualty of the pandemic. Research shows that teaching experience is positively associated with student achievement gains throughout a teacher’s career.

Lead: Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association

Health and Wellness for Children

Asthma Friendly Schools

SB 2822 transmitted to Governor

HB 1799, SB 2822

Asthma is one of the most chronic childhood diseases in Hawaiʻi. This bill provides the needed support that children with asthma need by having all Department of Education teachers trained on asthma education, as well as providing optional asthma management classes for students with asthma in schools.

Lead: American Lung Association In Hawaiʻi

Ending the Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products in Hawaiʻi

HB 1570 passed but with major exceptions

HB 1570, SB 3118, HB 1698, SB 2563

Hawaiʻi is in the midst of a youth vaping epidemic, with one of the highest youth vaping rates in the country. Roughly one in five Hawaiʻi middle schoolers and one in three Hawaiʻi high schoolers currently use vaping products. Further, 81 percent of youth who have used tobacco started with a flavored product and over half of youth smokers use menthol cigarettes. This bill would end the sale of flavored tobacco products in Hawaiʻi, including menthol-flavored cigarettes and vapes.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute

E-Cigarette Regulations

HB 598, SB 2278

This bill imposes regulations to help end the youth vaping crisis, including applying a tobacco tax to e-cigarettes, with a significant portion of the revenue earmarked to tobacco prevention and control, restricting online sales directly to consumers, and regulating tobacco licensing/permitting for e-cigarette retailers and wholesalers.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute

Extend Medicaid Postpartum Coverage to 12 Months

Didn't pass, but in the budget

HB 1773 / SB 2634

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law on March 11, 2021, advanced a key Medicaid provision to combat preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. ARPA creates a state plan amendment option for states to extend postpartum coverage for one year beginning April 1, 2022. Prioritizing this state option will have a tremendous impact in Hawaiʻi.

Data from the Hawaiʻi Maternal Mortality Review Committee report to the 2020 Legislature shows that 50% of the state’s maternal deaths between 2015-2016 were in the late postpartum period, which includes 43 days to one year after delivery. This is the exact time period when many women lose their Medicaid coverage and are unable to obtain necessary medical care.

Due to the lack of maternal fetal medicine specialists, pregnant women from the neighbor islands often have to fly to Honolulu for certain types of prenatal ultrasounds, high risk prenatal visits, fetal testing, and even for childbirth. While Hawaiʻi has made significant efforts to address maternal health outcomes, far too many women fall into coverage and care gaps either during their pregnancies or in the months following birth, jeopardizing their health and babies’ health, and exacerbating maternal racial and ethnic inequities.

Leads: AlohaCare, American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Hawaiʻi Section

Reproductive Health Equity Act

SCR 62, HCR 9, HR 6, SR 57

This bill will require insurers to cover the full range of sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care, with no cost-sharing. It will ensure that people have access to the care that they need, no matter their insurance or economic status. This bill will also protect the privacy of minors and dependents under age 26 by requiring insurers to send bills and statements directly to the patient.

Lead: Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates

Restoring Adult Medicaid Dental Benefits

Didn't pass, but in the budget

SB 1294, HB 1754, SB 2401

Oral health is a crucial part of overall physical, psychological, social, and economic well-being. Researchers have linked poor oral health with cardiovascular disease, stroke and bacterial pneumonia. Pregnant women with poor oral health are at an increased risk of delivering preterm and/or low-birth-weight infants. Hawaiʻi’s children have some of the worst oral health outcomes in the country. Our third graders have the highest prevalence of tooth decay and 7 out of 10 third graders are impacted by tooth decay. We believe oral health is a family issue and that if parents have access to dental prevention services, their whole family will benefit.

Lead: Hawaiʻi Oral Health Coalition

Family Strengthening

Children and Families of Incarcerated Individuals

Transmitted to Governor

HB 1741, SB 2306

Implement a pilot project at the Waiawa Minimum Security Center to keep children and families of incarcerated individuals socially connected to them by improving visitation hours at state-operated correctional facilities.

Lead: Blueprint for Change

Neonatal Leave / Paid Family Leave

SB 2831

Neonatal leave that extends paid leave and job protection benefits to working families that exceed existing FMLA and temporary disability benefits. This is needed to address the many gaps for families who need extra support when their pregnancy is complicated and delivery is very early, requiring an antepartum hospital stay by a mother and a hospitalization of the baby immediately upon birth at the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU).

NICU families often exhaust typical benefits such as FMLA and temporary disability before their child is even discharged from the hospital, if they even qualify for the benefits at all.This results in mothers forced out of the workforce to provide support to their baby in the hospital or to be with their newly discharged newborn. Fathers are unable to support their family at the hospital and must choose between being with their family or providing financial support.

Leads: Todd Taniguchi and Vivien Ong

Child Safety and Welfare

Trafficking Prevention

HB 692 / SB 1347, HB 1701 / SB 2565

Protect Hawaiʻi's public school students from sexual exploitation by requiring the Department of Education to offer training to teachers and school staff on how to prevent and respond to potential cases of sex trafficking

Lead: Hawaiʻi Youth Services Network

Take action today

Become a Community Champion member
You’ll get exclusive advocacy tools, including custom action alerts, bill tracking, briefings on legislative hearings, sample testimony, media assistance, policy research, breaking news concerning children’s issues, explanations of legislative/regulatory activity, and more.

Donate to this grassroots movement
We can only advance the important initiatives in this Agenda with your support. Your gift today will help to address the root causes of poverty and inequity and develop these crucial public policies for our keiki.

Sign up for free legislative action alerts below
Anyone interested in children’s issues at the Legislature can sign up for action alerts on important bills. Your voice is needed — and we make it easy to get involved with our simple advocacy tools.

About HCAN Speaks!

Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network Speaks! (HCAN Speaks!) is a nonpartisan 501(c)4 nonprofit. Our movement is fighting to ensure all keiki are healthy, safe, and ready to learn. HCAN Speaks! gives you the tools you need to make informed voting decisions, hold leaders accountable, and change systems and policies.