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. 562 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to require the Department of Health to provide family and caregiver support services for the elderly.

The Kokua Council, Policy Advisory Board for Elderly Affairs, and several concerned individuals supported this bill. The Executive Office on Aging supported the intent of this measure.

Your Committees find that most of Hawaii's long-term care needs are met by families in their own homes and that this arrangement is both preferred by elders and more cost-effective than institutional care. The Executive Office on Aging is the state agency charged with the development of caregiver systems and with ensuring that there is adequate support for caregivers.

Age is not the only criteria for those needing long-term care, and persons with limitations in their ability to perform the tasks or activities of daily living also receive support from family caregivers.

Your Committees have amended this bill by:

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. 562, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 562, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.