WHEREAS, the Guttmacher Institute reported that the United States has one of the highest unintended pregnancy rates in the industrialized world, with half of the six million unintended pregnancies occurring among women in the United States each year; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has identified family planning as the key to reducing unintended pregnancies by 40 percent by 2010; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii ranks last among the 50 states in public funding for services to help prevent unplanned pregnancies; and

WHEREAS, in 1995, Hawaii's family planning services system lost 90 percent of its state family planning funds, or approximately $1,300,000; and

WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2005-2006, federal funds for family planning services totaled $1,700,000, and the required matching state funds amounted to only $170,000, resulting in a lack of adequate funding to community health centers offering family planning services; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaii, over 27,000 women or 11 percent of the more than 254,000 women of childbearing age become pregnant each year; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaii, over 138,000 women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies each year and of this number, approximately 62,000 women of childbearing age need publicly supported contraceptive services because they have incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaii, 40 publicly funded family planning clinics provide contraceptive care to 17,000 women of childbearing age yearly; and

WHEREAS, family planning clinics in Hawaii are currently able to serve only 15 percent of all women in need of publicly supported contraceptive services; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the Department of Health (DOH) is requested to convene a working group to determine family planning funding needs for legislative consideration in the State's 2007-2009 biennial budget; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DOH is requested to include, as members of the working group, representatives of the following:

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DOH is requested to convene the working group not later than 60 days after the adoption of this Resolution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to submit a final report, including its findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, if any, to the Governor and the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health; Director of Human Services; President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists-Hawaii Chapter; Chairperson of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women's Health at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine; Hawaii's Women's Coalition; Hawaii Women's Legislative Caucus, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii; Hawaii Primary Care Association; Executive Director of Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; Executive Director of Hawaii Youth Services Network; and Executive Director of March of Dimes – Hawaii Chapter.

Report Title:

Family Planning Needs