STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2031

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2442
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was
referred S.B. No. 2442 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAREGIVERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to allow a caregiver of a
child to give medical and educational consent for the child by
executing a prescribed affidavit.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure
from the Department of Health (DOH), Na Tutu, and a private
individual.

     This measure is patterned after similar laws in California,
Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Texas, and Washington.  The measure addresses a common situation
in Hawaii where a child often resides, at least temporarily, with
a grandparent who assumes the responsibility of caregiver.  The
caregiver needs authority to enroll the child in school and to
authorize school-related medical care in the absence of the
presence of the child's parent or guardian who often cannot be
found or is otherwise incommunicado.  This measure allows the
caregiver to execute an affidavit that is prescribed in the
measure.  The affidavit is presented to the school or to health
providers, as appropriate, who must honor the affidavit.

     The legislature finds that an affidavit procedure is
preferable to formal court proceedings that confer to the

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2031
                                   Page 2


caregiver legal custody of the child.  Court proceedings are
often burdensome, expensive, and time consuming, and detract from
the immediate attention that the child needs to enroll in school
and receive school-related medical care such as dental care,
immunizations, physical examinations, and medical examinations.
Furthermore, the caregiver may not wish to have legal custody of
the child but will take care of the child nonetheless. 

     Your Committee has amended this measure to correct a
typographical error for a section reference.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of S.B. No. 2442, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2442,
S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health and Human
                                   Services,



                                   ______________________________
                                   SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 
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