STAND. COM. REP. NO. 379-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2522
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which
was referred H.B. No. 2522 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH-CARE
     DIRECTIVES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to create a mechanism to allow
individuals the option to indicate on driver's licenses and state
identification cards the existence of an advance health-care
directive.

     Testimony in support of this bill was provided by the
Executive Office on Aging, the City and County of Honolulu
Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, the Hawaii Coalition
for Affordable Long Term Care, the Healthcare Association of
Hawaii, Kokua Council, and the Policy Advisory Board for Elder
Affairs.  The State of Hawaii Department of the Transportation
testified in support of the intent of this bill.  The State
Attorney General provided testimony in support of this bill with
reservations.

     Your Committee finds that it may be difficult or impossible,
especially in an emergency situation, to ask a person being
admitted to a medical facility whether the person has prepared an
advance health-care directive to make medical treatment wishes
known.  Relatives or friends accompanying the person may not know
whether the person has an advance directive or may be too
distraught to discuss the subject.  Your Committee believes an

 
 
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advance directive designation on the driver's license or civil
identification card would alert admitting staff of a medical
facility to attempt to obtain the document, thereby increasing
the likelihood that the individual's medical treatment wishes
would be honored.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  substituting the term "driver's license" for "motor
          vehicle license" to reflect proper terminology;

     (2)  deleting the prohibition against imprinting of specific
          medical treatment information on the identification
          certificate, to allow for circumstances where the
          Criminal Justice Data Center includes medical
          information at the individual's request; and

     (3)  making technical, non-substantive changes for the sake
          of clarity.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 2522, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No.
2522, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary &
                                   Hawaiian Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair