Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 47 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge Hawaii's local, state, and federal government officials to play an active role in creating "Heart Healthy Communities."

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, the Department of Education, and Kaiser Permanente.

Your Committees find that creating "Heart Healthy Communities" such as the program established by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation would benefit Hawaii's residents and visitors. Promoting healthy lifestyles will, among many other benefits, reduce incidence of disease, the growing obesity crisis, and reduce health care costs.

Your Committees have adopted the recommendations of Kaiser Permanente and amended this measure by referencing "Active Living by Design," the national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation administered by the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, and Hawaii's Kokua Kalihi Valley, which is a grantee of the program.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 47, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 47, S.D. 1.