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 S.B. No. 3252, S.D. 2, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that a high level of quality care is provided by at-home caregivers by:

(3) Appropriating funds to the Kupuna Care Services Program.

The City and County of Honolulu's Department of Community Services, American Association of Retired Persons Hawaii, Kokua Council, Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, Moiliili Community Center, Central Oahu Caregivers' Support Group, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Hawaii Division, and several concerned individuals supported this bill. The Executive Office on Aging supported the intent of this measure.

Your Committees find that caregivers are motivated to provide care to family members because of their values, the preference of the elderly to remain at home with their families, and the high cost of institutional long-term care. While caregivers are noble in their quest to provide for loved ones, it is a difficult task that can have negative consequences in terms of their ability to maintain their employment and income while balancing the demands of caregiving. It is therefore a necessity that those who care for our elderly and disabled receive the assistance and coordination they so desperately need to ensure that their own well-being is not endangered by the good they provide to others.

Your Committees have amended this bill by refocusing the intent to assist a central agency in providing the fullest amount of coordination of support services to family caregivers by, among other things:

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. 3252, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3252, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.