Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

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. 3258 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate grant funds that will enable the Oral Health Institute of the Pacific to continue to provide dental clinics and services on Maui for the underserved population.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from twenty-two individuals.

Your Committees find that dental health is an important part of an individual's total well-being. Poor dental health is often a precursor to more serious diseases.

Your Committees further find that individuals on Maui who are recipients of QUEST, SCHIP, and Medicaid, or are uninsured, cannot find dental services in the private sector. Thus, your Committees find that a grant to Global Medlink Technology Inc. for the Oral Health Institute of the Pacific program is necessary to ensure that dental clinics continue to operate and that the underserved population receives needed dental services.

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. 3258 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.