STAND. COM. REP. NO.2710
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.B. No. 2763
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2763, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BIRTH DEFECTS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Health to establish a birth defects program.
In addition, this measure clarifies the general obligations of the program, provides for the confidentiality of data, enables the Department to adopt rules to implement the program, and imposes penalties for violations.
This measure also creates a birth defects registry to record information collected by the birth defects program, prohibits the collection of birth defects information for individuals who do not wish to participate, and specifies the permissible use and confidentiality of the collected information. This measure also appropriates $500,000 from the general fund for fiscal year 2002-2003 to implement this measure, to be expended by the Department.
Your Committee finds that each year, approximately eight hundred to one thousand babies, or one out of twenty births in Hawaii, have birth defects. Birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality and contribute significantly to childhood morbidity and long-term disability. Your Committee finds that birth defects information can be used to identify possible causes or risk factors and populations at risk, and assist in strategies of prevention.
Your Committee further finds that the Department of Health administratively created the program thirteen years ago, making Hawaii one of thirty-three states that have such a program. This measure would formalize the program into statutory law, making it a permanent program with a dedicated source of funding.
Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended the measure by:
(1) Adding a new section re-establishing the Hawaii birth defects special fund, which was deleted from the original version of this measure, and allowing a portion of the marriage license fee under section 572-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to be deposited into this fund;
(2) Adding a new section to define terms used in the new part added to chapter 324, Hawaii Revised Statutes, in section 2 of the bill;
(3) Deleting the general fund appropriation in section 3 of the bill, and inserting in its place a blank appropriation out of the Hawaii birth defects special fund to pay the operating expenses of the birth defects program, to be expended by the Department. Your Committee has inserted a blank amount to facilitate further discussion on the funding necessary to carry out the purposes of this measure; and
(4) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and consistency.
Finally, your Committee notes that the Department of Health is not authorized to adopt rules under chapter 324, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to implement the birth defects studies legislation. Your Committee recommends that this issue be reviewed further to ensure that all elements of this legislation can be properly implemented.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2763, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2763, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
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____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair |
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