Social service agency
chiefs protest veto
of state funding
Community leaders protested the governor's decision to veto legislative funding for social service programs yesterday.
Standing at the Queen Liliuokalani statue near the state Capitol, Debbie Shimizu, of the Alliance for Health and Human Services, said the cuts are an enormous setback to agencies that provide services to hundreds and thousands of people.
Members of various social service agencies were to testify today at a Senate hearing at the Capitol on the effect of cuts to programs that help provide jobs for adults, advocacy for domestic violence victims and programs for at-risk youth.
Last week, Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed portions of Senate Bill 1305, which funds private social service agencies using money from the state's rainy-day fund. The governor said last week that the cuts were made because the state's budget was not balanced and that it was necessary to exercise "fiscal discipline and prudent management" to restore trust in government.
"The whole mind-set that we will just go raid some fund next year and find the money -- I want to change that mentality. We want recurring revenue to meet recurring expense," Lingle said.
Nancy Kreidman, executive director of the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, said three of six staff members at the Maui office were laid off after the governor cut $150,000 of the agency's funding.
Victims of domestic violence will be unable to access legal representation, case management, telephone crisis assistance and child care.
"They will be in danger," Kreidman said.
It is incomprehensible that moneys that provide services for more than 1,000 youths in Kalihi a year would be cut, said Tony Pfaltzgraff, executive director of YMCA in Kalihi, who complained about $500,000 slashed for youth service centers.
Legislative funding for the Bridge to Hope program, which helps single parents become self-sufficient, was cut in half to $150,000 from $300,000.
"We can't serve as many people as we can," said Amy Agbayani, director of the Student, Equity, Excellence and Diversity Office at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The program assists about 100 welfare recipients every year who are able to obtain jobs at any University of Hawaii campus while studying toward their college degree.