STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2430
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2006
RE: S.B. No. 2166
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2006
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2166 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MINORS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to allow a minor to consent to the provision of medical care and services under certain circumstances.
Your Committees received testimony in support of the measure from Blueprint for Change; Hale Kipa; HMSA; the Hawaii Medical Association; the Hawaii Primary Care Association; the Hawaii Youth Services Network; the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii; Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; and the Waikiki Health Center. Your Committees received testimony from the Hawaii Family Forum supporting the intent of the measure if it was amended to narrow its scope. Your Committees also received comments on the measure from Kaiser Permanente.
Your Committees find that minors cannot receive medical treatment without consent from a parent or guardian, which precludes some minors from obtaining necessary medical care. Minors affected by this limitation are those who live on their own without parental support, such as runaway, homeless, and street youth, as well as young people from Micronesia and other Pacific Islands who have moved to Hawaii on their own. Your Committees further find that current law allows minors between the ages of fourteen and seventeen to access medical care for family planning and contraceptives, pregnancy-related care, abortion services, and testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases.
Your Committees have amended this measure by adding a provision to authorize the use of confidential communications for medical care and services obtained by a minor who is covered under a managed care plan or health insurance plan and by deleting archaic language regarding access to surgery and abortion services by minors. Your Committees also have amended this measure by 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 Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2166, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2166, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,
____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair |
____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair |
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