STAND

STAND. COM. REP. 800

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 422

H.D. 2

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 422, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A CENTER FOR NURSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to address the worldwide shortage of nurses by establishing a Center for Nursing at the University of Hawaii (Center).

The University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, Hawaii Government Employees Association, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and a concerned individual submitted testimony in support of this bill. The Board of Nursing and Hawaii Nurses' Association (HNA) submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure. The Department of Budget and Finance and the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs commented on this bill.

After careful consideration of the amendments proposed by HNA, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the Center's Board of Directors with an advisory board made up of:

(A) Five instead of four members, from the business and labor community, with specified representation;

(B) Five instead of four members, from the nursing profession, with specified representation;

(D) Three members from community agencies or consumer groups with an interest in healthcare;

(2) Clarifying that one of the two staff positions of the advisory board shall be an independent doctorally-prepared nurse researcher;

(3) Restating in non general terms, the functions of the Center;

(4) Replacing the requirement that ten percent of the fees collected under chapter 457, Hawaii Revised Statutes, be deposited in the Center for Nursing Special Fund (Special Fund), with the requirement that other funding sources, such as federal and private grants and legislative appropriations be deposited; and

(5) Requiring nurses who are issued a new license and at each license renewal to pay an additional unspecified fee until June 30, 2005, that will be deposited into the Special Fund.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 422, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 422, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

		____________________________ DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair