Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 47 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the Governor to establish a Department of Aging and Long-Term Care.

The Executive Office on Aging submitted comments on this measure.

Your Committees find that the State's ability to serve its rapidly aging population, projected to number twenty-five percent of our total population in less than a decade, deserves a serious assessment of the State's capacity to address the diverse concerns of our elders and their communities. A Department of Aging and Long-Term Care will help focus state resources on these issues. The report on recommendations on how to establish the Department of Aging and Long-Term Care should include input from caregivers and any other relevant information needed to address needs of our elders.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 47 and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.