2023 Hawaii Revised Statutes › Title 20. Social Services › 346. Department of Human Services › 346-14 Duties generally.

§346-14 Duties generally.
Except as otherwise provided by law, the department of human services shall:
(1) Establish and administer programs and standards, and adopt rules as deemed necessary for all public assistance programs;
(2) Establish, extend, and strengthen services for the protection and care of abused or neglected children and children in danger of becoming delinquent to make paramount the safety and health of children who have been harmed or are in life circumstances that threaten harm;
(3) Establish and administer programs, and adopt rules as deemed necessary, for the prevention of domestic and sexual violence and the protection and treatment of victims of domestic and sexual violence;
(4) Assist in preventing family breakdown;
(5) Place, or cooperate in placing, abused or neglected children in suitable private homes or institutions and place, or cooperate in placing, children in suitable adoptive homes;
(6) Have authority to establish, maintain, and operate receiving homes for the temporary care and custody of abused or neglected children until suitable plans are made for their care; and accept from the police and other agencies, for temporary care and custody, any abused or neglected child until satisfactory plans are made for the child;
(7) Administer the medical assistance programs for eligible public welfare and other medically needy individuals by establishing standards, eligibility, and health care participation rules, payment methodologies, reimbursement allowances, systems to monitor recipient and provider compliance, and assuring compliance with federal requirements to maximize federal financial participation;
(8) Cooperate with the federal government in carrying out the purposes of the Social Security Act and in other matters of mutual concern pertaining to public welfare, public assistance, and child welfare services, including the making of reports, the adoption of methods of administration, and the making of rules as are found by the federal government, or any properly constituted authority thereunder, to be necessary or desirable for the efficient operation of the plans for public welfare, assistance, and child welfare services or as may be necessary or desirable for the receipt of financial assistance from the federal government;
(9) Carry on research and compile statistics relative to public and private welfare activities throughout the State, including those dealing with dependence, defectiveness, delinquency, and related problems;
(10) Develop plans in cooperation with other public and private agencies for the prevention and treatment of conditions giving rise to public welfare problems;
(11) Adopt rules governing the procedure in hearings, investigations, recording, registration, determination of allowances, and accounting and conduct other activities as may be necessary or proper to carry out this chapter;
(12) Supervise or administer any other activities authorized or required by this chapter, including the development of the staff of the department through in-service training and educational leave to attend schools and other appropriate measures, and any other activities placed under the jurisdiction of the department by any other law;
(13) Make, prescribe, and enforce policies and rules governing the activities provided for in section 346-31 it deems advisable, including the allocation of moneys available for assistance to persons assigned to work projects among the several counties or to particular projects where the apportionment has not been made pursuant to other provisions of law, if any, governing expenditures of the funds;
(14) Determine the appropriate level for the Hawaii security net, by developing a tracking and monitoring system to determine what segments of the population are not able to afford the basic necessities of life, and advise the legislature annually regarding the resources required to maintain the security net at the appropriate level;
(15) Subject to the appropriation of state funds and availability of federal matching assistance, expand optional health care to low-income persons as follows:
(A) Pregnant women and infants under one year of age living in families with incomes up to one hundred eighty-five per cent of the federal poverty level and without any asset restrictions;
(B) Children under six years of age living in families with incomes up to one hundred thirty-three per cent of the federal poverty level and without any asset restrictions;
(C) Older children to the extent permitted under optional federal medicaid rules;
(D) Elder persons;
(E) Aliens;
(F) The homeless; and
(G) Other handicapped and medically needy persons; and
(16) Subject to the appropriation of state funds and availability of federal matching assistance, establish the income eligibility level for the medically needy program at one hundred thirty-three per cent of the assistance allowance. [L 1941, c 296, pt of §1; am L 1943, c 213, pt of §1; RL 1945, §4827; am L 1945, cc 113, 157, §1; am L 1953, c 153, §3; RL 1955, §108-7; am L 1961, c 128, §6; HRS §346-14; am L 1970, c 104, §1 and c 105, §5; am L 1971, c 20, §1; am L 1978, c 107, §5; am L 1979, c 11, §1; am L 1983, c 297, §2; am L 1987, c 339, §3; am L 1988, c 296, §1; am L 1989, c 393, §2; am L 1990, c 67, §8 and c 202, §4; am L 1996, c 167, §1; am L 1998, c 92, §2]
Note
L Sp 2005, c 4, §3 provides:
"SECTION 3. The department of human services shall not take any action to remove pharmaceutical benefits management from managed care plans that provide health care coverage for Hawaii medicaid beneficiaries."
Cross References
General authority, see §26-14.
Medical assistance to other children, see §346-59.4.
Rulemaking and hearings by administrative agencies, see chapter 91.
Case Notes
Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution did not bar plaintiffs' individual suits under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act or §504 of the Rehabilitation Act regarding class action suit based on State's exclusion of certain disabled people from health insurance program; determinations of unlawful discrimination and awards of compensatory damages and expert witness fees affirmed. 303 F.3d 1039 (2002).
Where plaintiffs claimed that Basic Health Hawaii violated the equal protection clause because it provided less health coverage to Compact of Free Association with the United States (COFA) residents than the health coverage that Hawaii provided to citizens and qualified aliens eligible for federal reimbursement through medicaid, plaintiffs failed to offer any evidence that Hawaii had not closely followed the federal direction and adhered to requirements prescribed by Congress. Plaintiffs also did not allege that state expenditures for health insurance for aliens within the discretionary category were less than the state expenditures for health insurance for others. 748 F.3d 875 (2014).
Re cooperation with Federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children regulations in determining eligibility. 396 F. Supp. 375 (1975).
State welfare manual regulations held to violate federal regulations regarding payment of benefits while termination of benefits hearing is pending. 434 F. Supp. 1173 (1977); 434 F. Supp. 1177 (1977).
State regulations not allowing deduction of reasonable work related expenses in determining need and imposing burdensome verification of expenses violated federal regulations. 438 F. Supp. 238 (1977).
Department's manual of instruction covering investigation of fraud dealt only with internal management and was not required to be adopted in accordance with chapter 91. 58 H. 94, 564 P.2d 1271 (1977).