Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2542 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure the continued operations and expansion of adult residential care homes (ARCHs) by:

The Coalition of Care Homes Administrators, Hokulaki, LLC, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this measure. The Department of Human Services (DHS) opposed this measure.

Your Committees find that ARCHs have not received an increase in level of care payments in ten years. Housing and other costs of living have increased dramatically over the past ten years, and ARCH operators are finding it difficult to care for residents with the current levels of payment.

The State's impending long-term care crisis is also a concern, as there is already a shortage of facilities. There is little incentive for individuals to operate ARCHs if the level of care payments do not increase.

Your Committees respectfully request the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce to further discuss the possibility of enabling and requiring DHS to establish rules with automatic level of care payment increases based upon the DRI index.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2542 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.