Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1138 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to strengthen the current mandate for newborn hearing screening and require the Department of Health to adopt rules to standardize the newborn hearing screening statewide.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Health, Children's Medical Associates, Inc., Center for Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii, Queen's Medical Center, Hawaii Early Intervention Coordinating Council and five private citizens.

Your Committee finds that hearing loss is one of the most common congenital birth defects and screening has identified four out of every 1,000 newborns as deaf or hard of hearing. Your Committee also finds that infants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing who receive intervention before the age of six months maintain language development with their cognitive abilities through age five. Therefore, your Committee supports this measure which would strengthen the current mandate for newborn hearing and screening.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments.

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. 1138, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1138, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.