(1) The State of Hawaii has a responsibility to provide services for its developmentally disabled citizens in order to aid them in living as complete and normal lives as possible.

(2) Several departments of the State are responsible for various services to the developmentally disabled, namely the department of health provides health services, the department of education provides educational services, and the department of human services provides vocational rehabilitation and other social services.

(3) Lack of coordination among the services and planning activities of the various departments of the State results in gaps in the spectrum of needed services, duplication of services, lack of clarity in responsibility for services, and poorly articulated inter-agency programs, thereby reducing the quality of programs for the developmentally disabled.

(4) Because of specific mandates of the departments, it is essential that a body responsible for coordinating services and planning for the developmentally disabled be established outside the departments responsible for services.

(5) There exists within the state department of health for administrative purposes only, a state planning council on developmental disabilities appointed by the governor and mandated by federal legislation, supported in large part by federal moneys and required by federal law to provide coordination and planning in the field of developmental disabilities.

(6) The purpose of this chapter is to establish the state planning council on developmental disabilities as the state agency responsible for coordinating services to the developmentally disabled residents of Hawaii.

(7) Deinstitutionalization of the developmentally disabled is a major goal of the State, thus state and county agencies should adopt policies and regulations which will encourage the development of suitable housing for this group within the community. [L 1975, c 198, §1; am L 1979, c 180, pt of §1; am L 1980, c 239, §1; am L 1987, c 339, §4]