STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1078

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1773

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1773, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOCIAL WORKERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to finalize the title of those with degrees in social worker by:

(1) Requiring a social worker/human services professional with a social work degree to be called a social worker and all others to be called human services professionals;

(2) Requiring the Department of Human Resources and Human Development (DHRD) to develop a plan for separating the social worker/human services professional class into two separate classes;

(3) Requiring new state social workers and all federal and county social workers to be licensed beginning July 1, 2007;

(4) Prohibiting DHRD from eliminating the social worker class; and

(5) Exempting employees of the Hawaii paroling authority from these provisions.

The National Association of Social Workers and several concerned individuals supported this bill. The Hawaii Government Employees Association supported this measure with amendments. The Department of Public Safety, Department of Health, DHRD, and Department of Human Services opposed this bill. The Judiciary provided comments.

Your Committees have amended this bill by eliminating the mandate that DHRD establish equal numbers of social worker and human services positions.

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 S.B. No. 1773, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1773, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Labor & Public Employment.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services,

____________________________ ALEX M. SONSON, Chair		____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair