HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Leaders from 213 nonprofit organizations testified at the Hawaii State Capitol Thursday, seeking emergency funding as federal spending cuts impact Hawaii’s charity and human service sector more severely than anticipated.

Lawmakers set aside $50 million in May for nonprofits affected by Trump administration spending cuts, but organizations requested more than $150 million from the fund.

“We had, you know, over $150 million in requests, you know, for $50 million pot. So I think that should just show you the need out there. A lot of community members going hungry,” said state Rep. Daniel Holt, co-chair of the emergency grants committee.

Organizations detail funding shortfalls

The West Hawaii Community Health Center requested $1.8 million “to stabilize and sustain this workforce, jobs and keep people healthy,” said CEO Richard Taaffe.

Kids Hurt Too sought $394,500. “Since the funding cuts, we have expanded our peer support, mentoring, and community activities for grieving and traumatized youth and families,” said executive director Walker Rowsey.

“We are humbly requesting $350,000 to help Hawaii’s most disadvantaged youth,” said Cathy Ogawa of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Alu Like reported a $189,403 cut in Department of Labor federal funding. “Our employment and training program, which was forced to reduce staff work hours by 20% to address the $189,403 cut in our Department of Labor federal funding,” said CEO Mervina K.M. Cash-Kaeo.

Lawmakers face difficult decisions

“We’re gonna try and prioritize, you know, needs in our community, you know, food is definitely important, you know, health care, things of those things,” Holt said.

The requests come as federal food aid remains stalled and tens of thousands of federal workers live without paychecks.

“I feel like we are getting punched in the gut multiple times, right, from all directions,” said state Rep. Lisa Marten, chair of Human Services.

Republican state Sen. Brenton Awa was asked if Trump can be blamed for the crises said partisan politics should not affect people’s needs.

“It’s sad that we live in a time where party politics has to be this divisive at the cost of people. And, you know, what we got into office for was to represent people. So when we see this, this is the kind of stuff that makes us sick,” he said.

Revenue generation under consideration

The funding shortage could prompt lawmakers to seek additional revenue from taxpayers.

“Things always have to be relooked at. When they’re on such a large scale, you know, we always could use additional revenue generation, which we’re always looking at, but that’s always tough,” Holt said.

Marten said everything should be on the table.

“We have to look at the big picture and see what can we find and what can’t we find? Because replacing all federal programs with state funds isn’t possible,” she said.

Lawmakers had reserved a day for a potential special session in late November to address federal budget cuts, but will now most likely wait until the regular session begins in January.

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The state plans to distribute $100 million in federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding to reduce housing and utility costs to help make up for the temporary loss of federal SNAP benefits for 168,947 residents that begins on Saturday.

Two state senators on Tuesday were clearly disappointed that the state is not doing more to help SNAP recipients — 86,229 island households including 62,647 children — who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to put food on their tables after the Trump administration announced that it was suspending automatic SNAP funding on Saturday because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Sen. Joy A. San Buenaventura (D, Puna) chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which held an informational briefing at the state Capitol Tuesday over Hawaii’s response to the food program’s suspension.

She was joined by Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua) in voicing her frustration that Gov. Josh Green does not plan to tap the state’s $1.5 billion rainy day fund to cover the nearly
$59 million in monthly SNAP benefits that people will not receive beginning Saturday.

With over 10% of Hawaii residents about to lose their SNAP funding, Buenaventura said, “We’re talking about feeding people. Why couldn’t we use rainy day funds?”

Scott Morishige, the administrator of the state Department of Human Services’ Benefit, Employment and Support Services Division, told the senators that “TANF funds were the fastest resource we could get out there.”

Green continues to search for ways to help SNAP recipients quickly and will announce the release of the TANF funds today, Morishige said.

Pressed on why Green doesn’t use the state’s rainy day fund to replace SNAP funding, DHS’ Deputy Director Jerry Campos said that the Legislature would have to schedule a special session to provide “legislative oversight” of any rainy day funding.

“Gov. Green is fully aware of the issues at hand,” Campos said. “… The necessity to move quickly is one of
the highest priorities. … Gov. Green is considering all possible solutions.”

Buenaventura later closed the briefing by saying she was disappointed “that’s all there is. … We were hoping for better solutions than what we’ve heard right now.”

The state House Committee on Human Services and Homelessness has scheduled a similar hearing today that also includes Morishige.

The suspension of SNAP benefits comes as the federal government shutdown — which began Oct. 1 — approaches the record 35-day federal government shutdown that occurred during President Donald Trump’s first term over Democrats’ refusal to fund Trump’s
border wall with Mexico.

The last shutdown stretched from November 2018 into January 2019.

Federal employees who are now working without pay are already lining up at island food banks as their rent and mortgages are days away from coming due.

Many of them are “folks who never had to seek help before,” Elia Herman, director of advocacy for the Hawaii Foodbank, told the senators. “… In Hawaii we come together and we will figure a way through this.”

On Monday, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs met in an emergency session and approved $6.1 million in emergency funding for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries affected by the shutdown
and the suspension of SNAP benefits.

“These are unsettling times, and our beneficiaries are feeling it most,” OHA Board Chair Kai Kahele said in a statement announcing the emergency funding. “Families are missing paychecks, losing benefits, and facing impossible choices about how to feed their ʻohana. OHA will not wait on the sidelines — we are taking immediate action to help our people through this
crisis.”

OHA Interim Administrator Summer Sylva said in a statement, “Together, we will develop a program that models Native Hawaiian governance and leadership at its best — collective, courageous, and compassionate. In this time of uncertainty, OHA is stepping forward to take care of our people, because that’s exactly what this trust was created to do.”

OHA estimates that more than 47,000 Native Hawaiians receive SNAP benefits and that just under 5,000 Native Hawaiians are also affected by the shutdown.

On Tuesday, state Attorney General Anne Lopez announced that Hawaii has joined a hui of 22 other attorneys general and three governors in seeking a temporary restraining order preventing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Brooke Rollins from “unlawfully” suspending SNAP benefits that feed 40 million Americans, including island residents “who rely on this lifeline every day,” Lopez said in a statement.

“Our office is committed to protecting the rights of families and individuals who depend on this program,” she said.

Lopez agreed with House Democrats who have written to Rollins urging him to release over $5 billion in SNAP contingency funds that Congress previously approved.

Lopez said that “USDA has funded other programs with emergency funds during this shutdown, but has refused to fund SNAP, leaving millions of Americans without the assistance they need to buy food. … This lapse will also put unnecessary strain on state and local governments and community organizations, as families increasingly rely on emergency services and local food pantries that are already struggling to fill a growing nutrition gap. It will affect our school systems and college and university communities, where food insecurity will stand in the way of educating our students. Suspending SNAP benefits will also harm the hundreds of thousands of grocers and merchants that accept SNAP payment for food purchases across the country. USDA has estimated that in a slowing economy, every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.54 in economic activity.”

“Where Congress has clearly spoken, providing that SNAP benefits should continue even during a government shutdown, USDA does not have the authority to say otherwise,” Lopez said.

The Hawaii Foodbank, Hawaii’s largest “hunger relief organization,” on Tuesday called the Trump administration’s suspension of SNAP benefits “one of the most significant food insecurity crises in recent history.”

Now, with unpaid and idled federal workers waiting in line at food banks, “it’s going to be pretty severe,” Marielle Terbio, vice president of strategy and programs for the Hawaii Foodbank, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Tuesday. “It’s not something our food bank alone can respond to. It’s a pretty scary situation.

“This is not a natural disaster,” Terbio said. “It’s a disaster by choice. It’s inhumane.”

Most Hawaii SNAP recipients likely already spent their October allotment of federal SNAP funding, she said.

Now, as November approaches with no expectation of another month of SNAP benefits, adults are likely going hungry “to make sure their keiki eat first,” Terbio said.

The suspension of SNAP benefits also means that
$13 million will not be spent at grocery stores across
the state, Keohokalole said Tuesday, adding to Hawaii’s already sluggish economy.

“Those SNAP dollars aren’t going back into our local economy,” Keohokalole said.

“This whole thing is very disappointing,” he said. “It doesn’t look like there’s a resolution on the horizon.”

Herman, from the Hawaii Foodbank, told Keohokalole and Buenaventura that the loss of SNAP benefits exceeds the food bank’s
abilities.

“That’s an impossible gap for us to close on our own,” she said. “This is really, really, really, really serious and we’re doing it with less resources. … Then we layer on the federal shutdown. … It’s big.”