Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 668 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a center for nursing within the University of Hawaii to, among other things, report on the current and future status and trends of the nursing workforce in Hawaii, develop a strategic plan to ensure an adequate nursing workforce, and analyze and report on nurse staffing issues.

Your Committees received testimony supporting this measure from the University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, Hawaii Nurses Association, Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME, Local 152, AFL-CIO, and two individuals. The Board of Nursing supported the intent of this measure but did not support the funding source for activities of the center for nursing. The Department of Budget and Finance similarly opposed this measure due to its creation of a special fund. Healthcare Association of Hawaii and Kaiser Permanente submitted testimony supporting establishment of the center for nursing but subsequently opposed the scope of its activities.

Your Committees find that a nursing shortage exists and will continue into the next decade unless actions are taken to reverse the trend. It is anticipated that Hawaii will need to produce four hundred nurses each year for the next fifteen years to replace the number of nurses leaving the profession. Nurse shortages directly reduce the availability and quality of all health care services thereby threatening the health and welfare of the public. The State must make every effort to ensure that Hawaii's residents have adequate and high quality health care at all times. Your Committees find that the nursing shortage is a public health crisis. The establishment of a center for nursing will centralize data, research, and overall efforts to find a solution to this crisis.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 668, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 668, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.