Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1390 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the laws relating to the selection and certification of Hawaiian healers.

Testimony in support of the measure was received from the Director of Preventive and Integrative Medicine at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, the State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, and Papa Ola Lokahi.

Your Committees find that Act 162, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998 (Act 162):

According to Act 162, the medical license exemption was to expire on July 1, 2002. Additionally, Act 162 only provided for the establishment of a single panel to certify Hawaiian healers. Unfortunately, Act 162 failed to recognize the Hawaiian tradition of recognizing localized healing practices and the fact that certain areas of the State have different healing methods from others.

Recognizing the value of Hawaiian healing practices, this measure makes the medical license exemption granted to Hawaiian healers under Act 162 permanent and provides Papa Ola Lokahi with a process by which to convene panels of Hawaiian healers to address issues related to Hawaiian healing practices on a localized basis. The measure also enables Papa Ola Lokahi to appoint subsequent members to its panels as it deems necessary to carry out its purposes.

Your Committees have amended the measure by adding a section that amends section 453-2(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to protect persons engaged in panel work from liability when performing duties authorized under Act 162.

Your Committees believe that the amended measure will ensure that the valuable lessons of traditional Hawaiian healing practices will not be lost in the future and that those persons who faithfully practice this art are not prosecuted, but nurtured for their knowledge.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1390, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1390, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.