Appropriates $         for FY 2005-2006 as grant-in-aid for emergency medical services in the Waianae-Nanakuli, Kahaluu-Kaaawa, and urban Honolulu areas.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The provision of emergency medical services is essential for the health, safety, and welfare of the people of Hawaii. However, the Waianae-Nanakuli, Kahaluu-Kaaawa, and urban Honolulu areas currently lack sufficient emergency medical services commensurate with their population growth and high rates of motor vehicle crashes, medical emergencies, and other traumas.

Recent legislation has proposed funding for additional emergency medical services in the city and county of Honolulu, which, if enacted, would have funded either a fully-equipped patient transport emergency ambulance or an emergency quick response vehicle staffed by a single mobile intensive care technician for each of the Waianae-Nanakuli, Kahaluu-Kaaawa, and primary urban center areas. However, only one emergency quick response vehicle was funded for Kapolei in 2000. Since then, the number of ambulance responses to 9-1-1 medical emergencies on Oahu has increased by over twenty-eight per cent in the past three years, requiring additional resources to maintain acceptable response times to emergencies.

Additionally, Hawaii finds itself in an ongoing state of heightened readiness, especially by first-responders, in response to the potential for terrorist attacks. This situation creates a need for an increased level of medical aid due to the extremely limited availability of resources posed by our island geography. Therefore, the need for additional emergency medical resources to deal with mass-casualty incidents has now become a state imperative.

Testimony provided by the department of health, the city and county of Honolulu, and community leaders during legislative hearings in 2002, 2003, and 2004 strongly supported proposals for additional emergency medical services. In addition, Resolution 01-45, passed unanimously by the Honolulu city council on March 14, 2001, urged the legislature to fund the services in the Waianae-Nanakuli, Kahaluu-Kaaawa, and urban Honolulu areas.

The purpose of this Act is to provide funding for emergency medical services including staffing, equipment, supplies, and quarters for an emergency ambulance unit in each of the Waianae-Nanakuli, Kahaluu-Kaaawa, and urban Honolulu areas and also for a third shift of ambulance service at the Makakilo ambulance unit that currently is not in service from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $         or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006 as a grant-in-aid for additional ambulance services in the Waianae-Nanakuli, Kahaluu-Kaaawa, and primary urban center areas of Oahu, and a third shift of ambulance service at the Makakilo ambulance unit.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the city and county of Honolulu for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005.