CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. 122

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 402

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

C.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 402, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL EDUCATION,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to establish the Hawaii medical education council within the University of Hawaii to address health care industry workforce issues and health care training programs, specifically in graduate medical education programs.

Your Committee on Conference finds that Hawaii is facing a shortage of health care professionals, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, medical laboratory technologists and other technicians, and speech pathologists. Your Committee on Conference further finds that the establishment of a medical education council will provide a comprehensive statewide approach to assessing the current status of the State's health care workforce, analyzing the capability of existing health care training programs to meet those needs, projecting future workforce needs, and implementing a plan to ensure that adequate funding is available to train Hawaii's health care workforce.

Upon further consideration, your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the dean of the school of medicine, the dean of the school of nursing and dental hygiene, and the vice dean of academic affairs, respectively of the University of Hawaii, the director of health, and the director of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, are ex-officio members of the council and are not appointed by the Governor;

(2) Clarifying that the remaining members of the council shall be appointed by the Governor;

(3) Inserting an appropriation from the Hawaii medical education special fund to authorize an expenditure ceiling of $800,000 from the fund in each year of the 2003-2005 fiscal biennium; and

(4) Making technical non-substantive changes for the purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 402, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 402, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ K. MARK TAKAI, Co-Chair		____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Co-Chair
____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Co-Chair		____________________________ ROSALYN BAKER, Co-Chair
____________________________ SCOTT Y. NISHIMOTO, Co-Chair		____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair