STAND. COM. REP. NO. 498-06
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2006
RE: H.B. No. 2064
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2006
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2064 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR FAMILY CAREGIVER SUPPORT SERVICES,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to provide for the coordination and development of family caregiver support services.
Specifically, the measure requires the Executive Office on Aging to coordinate a statewide system of caregiver support services by, among other things:
(1) Integrating family caregiver support with the Aging and Disability Resource Center Demonstration Project;
(2) Analyzing the long-term care needs of older adults and the capacity of family and informal caregivers to help them remain safely at home;
(3) Advocating, mobilizing, and coordinating employer and community resources to enable and augment family caregiver support;
(4) Establishing and maintaining protocols and standards for federal and state caregiver services administered by state, county, or other local agencies on aging;
(5) Establishing and supervising the alignment of long-term care advocacy assistance staff caregiver support objectives with the planning, resource development, grants management, data management, and evaluation functions of the Executive Office on Aging; and
(6) Coordinating statewide support for grandparents and other aging relative caregivers of children eighteen and under.
Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs and the Kokua Council. The Executive Office on Aging supported the measure's intent.
Your Committees find that the need for personal care due to physical, sensory, cognitive, and self-care disabilities increases with age. According to the Executive Office on Aging, by 2020, more than one in four individuals will be sixty years old or older. As Hawaii's population ages, many more families will be providing higher levels of long-term care to frail and disabled older adults at home.
Your Committees also find that the Executive Office on Aging has reported that sixty-five per cent of Hawaii's caregivers are employed. To balance their employment and eldercare roles, working caregivers take leaves of absence, report to work late or leave early, change from full-time to part-time employment, change to less demanding jobs, retire early, or give up work completely. As a consequence, caregiving may reduce a caregiver's retirement income since reduced hours on the job or fewer years in the workforce may mean fewer contributions to pensions, social security, and other retirement savings.
Your Committees believe that, because of the inherent value system of most citizens of Hawaii and the high cost of institutional long-term care, the general preference of the elderly is to remain at home with their families. Consequently, your Committees also believe that the State should take a leading role in providing caregivers with the information, motivation, and support they need to provide care to family members.
Your Committees have amended the measure by:
(1) Changing the appropriated amount from $80,000 to $1 to ensure continued discussion on this issue; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2064, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2064, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services,
|
____________________________ ALEX M. SONSON, Chair |
____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair |
|