Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 608 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require every physician and surgeon attending or treating a traumatic injury to report that injury to the police if the injury was caused in a motor vehicle collision resulting in serious injury or death.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney, Honolulu Police Department, and The Queen's Medical Center. Testimony in opposition was received from the Board of Medical Examiners.

Section 453-14, Hawaii Revised Statutes, mandates the reporting of certain suspicious injuries or wounds by physicians or surgeons to the police. This measure would add the reporting of those kinds of injuries as a result of a motor vehicle collision resulting in serious injury or death. The information required to be reported is the name of the injured person, description of the nature, type, and extent of the injury, and other pertinent information useful to the police.

This measure is an outgrowth of concerns raised about the privacy prohibitions in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the possibility of liability for disclosure of information. Your Committee notes that HIPAA already provides an exemption for the release of health care or medical information for legitimate law enforcement purposes.

The information sought by law enforcement is extremely critical, particularly in cases involving motor vehicle crashes where evidence of drug or alcohol use is necessary to prove impaired driving and negligent homicide cases.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 608 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.