Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1177, S.D. 2, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a correctional health care program within the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and to exempt the administrator and physicians of the program from civil service.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from DPS and a concerned citizen. The Hawaii Government Employees Association submitted testimony in support of this measure and offered an amendment.

Your Committees find that the field of correctional health care has historically had difficulty in attracting and retaining highly qualified professional staff. As a result, the health care provided to incarcerated persons suffers from a persistent problem concerning turnover among key staff positions. By exempting these positions from civil service it will be possible for more attractive compensation plans to be used to recruit, hire, and retain the necessary staff.

Your Committees also find that the existing correctional health care program, its administrator, and the physicians will benefit from the statutory formalization that this measure would provide.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Labor and Public Employment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1177, S.D. 2, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.