HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The layoffs of nearly 150 fire survivors on Maui may just be the beginning of the end of federal funding for scores of Hawaii nonprofits.

Now lawmakers are laying the groundwork to protect the state safety net.

Because the state treasury is in relatively good shape, lawmakers are looking into whether they can fill in where the federal government has backed off.

More than 200 nonprofits in Hawaii provide direct service to poor, elderly, disabled and disadvantaged communities with federal funds in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

So far, only a handful have been directly impacted by Trump administration freezes, but at a hearing Wednesday, senators began planning for a worst-case scenario for essential nonprofits.

Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz described the kinds of agencies that might qualify “as providing crucial, programmatic aid and outreach in the health and services sector.”

Dela Cruz told Hawaii News Now that the bill is a vehicle for a difficult process.

“We’re going to have to prioritize,” he said, “because there’s only so much money to go around.”

Because it could take months before it’s clear where the cuts have fallen, Dela Cruz wants to be prepared in case the governor has to call lawmakers into an emergency session.

“What the bill does is at least it gives us some options to hopefully strategically respond to the cuts at some point,” Dela Cruz said.

For many on Maui, that time has come after 27 agencies and nearly 150 jobs were cut after money from a federal Department of Labor grant ran out. The state says it’s looking for funds to replenish the agencies.

But Sen. Troy Hashimoto, D-Wailuku, Kahului, Waihee, Waikapu Mauka, Waiehu, said this is an emergency that qualifies for emergency funding.

“I think we as a state need to step up,” he said. “I think we will have to work with the governor’s office to see what state resources we can immediately allocate.”

The biggest dilemma for lawmakers is that if they step up with state money, they have no idea how deep the Trump budget cuts will go or how long they will last.

Hashimoto is a veteran of budget battles at the Capitol, so he is not suggesting this will be an easy or automatic decision.

“What becomes the priority, you know? Because we have our state programs that we have to continue,” he said. “Can we pick up all the federal programs?”