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 Staying PHOCUSED
Protecting Hawaii's Ohana, Children, UnderServed,
Elderly and Disabled
TO KEEP OUR SECTOR
AWARE OF AND "PHOCUSED" ON THE ISSUES FACING OUR STATE AND ITS MOST
VULNERABLE CITIZENS
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The PHOCUSED Voice: News Links
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Contact Us |
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Alex or
Nicole
p:
808.521.7462
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Board
& Staff
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Board of Directors
Joanne
Lundstrom, Chair
Howard Garval, Vice
Chair
Victor Geminiani, Vice
Chair
Debbie Shimizu, Secretary
Alan Shinn, Treasurer
Susan Chandler
Jan Dill
Marya Grambs
Kathi Hasegawa
Nanci Kreidman
Ruthann Quitiquit
Jerry Rauckhorst
Sandra Yoro
Staff
Alex Santiago, Executive
Director
Nicole Brodie, Office
Manager
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| Message to the Members | CLOSE OF SESSION
The
Legislative Session has come to an end. It has been a very
challenging and exciting year. Overall the Health and human
Services sector did very well considering the cuts that were being
proposed at the start of the Session. Thanks in large part to so
many of you who participated in some way or another, in getting the
message out to our legislators that we should not balance the budget on
the backs of our most vulnerable residents.
It has
been and will continue to be the focus of PHOCUSED to provide a
unified voice for our sector and the people we serve.
Our work
however continues. Now that we have successfully completed the
Session we will begin to shift our attention to getting funds released
and allowing your agencies to do their work. To that end we will
continue to need your support and your involvement.
THREE MEASURES WE PHOCUSED ON THIS YEAR
1. HB 2200 CD1 Relating to
the State Budget. Restored positions in the DHS, and the DOH,
with no funding and cut some Purchase of Services contract by 5%.
There was a proposed 20% cut that was negotiated down to only be at
5%. All TANF provisos were left intact. 2. SB 2469 CD1 Relating to the
Emergency and Budget Reserve (Rainy Day) Fund. Passed with $27.3
Million in rainy day funds used to shore up the social services safety
net. This is of particular concern to us as the Governor had
originally expressed her intent to use this fund to end Furlough
Fridays. We worked very hard to assure that the fund was used for
its intended purpose. It was.
3. SB 2650 CD1 Relating to the Department of Human
Services. Prohibits the proposed DHS reorganization plan to
close eligibility offices. This measure was vetoed by the
Governor; however, the
Legislature voted to override the Governor's
veto. We are very concerned about how this will impact the ability
of people to get the services they need in a timely manner.
There
were many other initiatives we took on
this year and other measures we testified on; however, these
three were highlighted because of their significance to our
sector. Over the next few weeks we will be monitoring a number of
other measures that may have an impact on the sector as well. We
welcome your input.
NEXT
STEP
As this Legislative season comes to an end we would
like to also inform all of you of another effort PHOCUSED will be
working on this next few months. PHOCUSED will be heading up this
year's "NO VOTE NO GRUMBLE"
campaign. Many of you will remember four years ago Partners
In Development spearheaded a "No Vote No Grumble" campaign and was very
successful at registering a large number of native Hawaiians. This year
we would like to, with the support of Partners in Development, expand
the effort to include as many Health and Human Services organizations as
possible. We are in the process of seeking funds for this effort
and would like all of you to participate. This is a non-partisan
effort, and we need our sector and its consumers to pay attention and to
vote. Your help would be greatly
appreciated. Please call our office for more details. |
PHOCUSED Work
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MEMBER MAHALO
The
success of this session and our efforts would not have been possible
without the generous contributions of time and money from our
members. Thank you so much!
Thank you also to the
Swayne Foundation,
and Hawaii People's Fund for their faith in and support of our work!
Let's
keep this momentum going by getting more organizations to join so they
too can own the results that we can only achieve together!
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Action Steps | What you can do:
- Thank your legislators
- Join the "No Vote No Grumble" campaign
- Email us
with your thoughts, questions, and concerns
- Recruit more organizations to join our efforts--PHOCUSED cannot
exist without membership support
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We hope to send out emails like this one to keep
our members informed about the process and issues of this year's
legislature. Because the work we are doing is in the political
arena and the landscape is often uncertain and changes with very short
notice, we request a bit of understanding of our perceptions as conveyed
here. |
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