STAND. COM. REP. NO. 861

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1138
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which
was referred H.B. No. 1138, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EPIDEMIOLOGIC
     INVESTIGATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to give the Department of Health
(DOH), the general power to conduct epidemiologic investigations
of diseases and injuries that threaten or are deemed by DOH to
threaten the public health.

     DOH and the Office of Information Practices submitted
testimony supporting this measure.  DOH testified that under
current law, DOH is authorized to require reporting of, and
inspect records relating to, 57 different infectious diseases.
However, this did not allow DOH to respond to a number of
increasingly important threats to the public health:  very rare
diseases, non-infectious diseases, injuries of public health
significance, and biological/chemical terrorism.  The bill would
give DOH the ability to obtain complete, accurate, and timely
information regarding these new public health threats, and would
appropriately limit access to this information to protect the
privacy interests of individuals.


 
 
 
 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 861
                                 Page 2

 
     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 1138, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass
Third Reading.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Consumer
                                   Protection and Commerce,



                                   ______________________________
                                   RON MENOR, Chair