Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 648 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to allow for verification and certification of the existence of a birth, death, marriage, or divorce, and the essential facts of the vital event which is contained in the certificate, in lieu of the issuance of a certified copy of the certificate.

Presently, a certified copy of a birth, death, marriage, or divorce certificate is necessary to conduct many personal, legal, and business transactions. Although verification of the official event may be required, the only current means of doing so are through actual, certified documents. Your Committee understands that this measure will allow for an alternative vehicle to be utilized to provide basic vital events information contained in the vital records section of the Department of Health. This should allow for more expeditious and expedient procession of information and be of benefit to the general public.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Health. The State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands testified in support of the measure with some reservations. They felt that certified copies of the vital certificates, especially birth and death certificates, should continue to be given to persons of Hawaiian ancestry when necessary to apply for Hawaiian Homelands and other native Hawaiian rights and privileges.

In light of the testimony by the State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, your Committee is in agreement with their concerns and would like for these organizations and the Department of Health, to continue in their collaborative efforts to ensure that certified copies of these vital records will be presented to clients of these organizations when requested.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 648 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.