§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;

(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 needy 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.

Re cooperation with Federal Aid to Families with Dependent
Children regulations in determining eligibility. 396 F. Supp. 375.

State welfare manual regulations held to violate federal
regulations regarding payment of benefits while termination of benefits hearing
is pending. 434 F. Supp. 1173; 434 F. Supp. 1177.

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.

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.