Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2057, H.D. 2, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to recognize cultural and religious practices associated with childbirth, with due consideration for public health, by allowing a placenta to be released by a hospital, to the woman from which it originated, upon negative findings of infection or hazard.

Your Committee finds that the rich ethnic and cultural practices of Native Hawaiian traditions are essential to sustaining the Hawaiian culture, and need protection. A long-standing and important Hawaiian cultural practice is for the family to bury the placenta or 'iewe after a child is born. Your Committee also notes that in addition to na kanaka maoli, other ethnic groups in Hawaii, including Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese, practice some form of burying the placenta to protect the child and ensure its future health.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2057, H.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.