Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2773 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division to provide services to Felix eligible children and adolescents.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Attorney General, Department of Health (DOH), and Mental Health Association of Hawaii.

The DOH is the agency responsible for providing mental health services to children in need of special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, more commonly known today in Hawaii as the Felix children.

According to testimony of the DOH, it is very committed to requesting only those funds that are absolutely necessary, and it continues to evaluate how current funding could meet funding needs under the consent decree in Felix v. Cayetano.

Your Committee has amended this measure on the recommendation of the DOH by substituting the amount of $1, to give the DOH time to make revisions to the original amount of $8,750,603. However, your Committee believes that funding should be allocated in the following amounts:

4. $1 million for DOH's poison center;

6. $500,000 for the birth defects program.

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. 2773, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2773, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.