STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1165

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 531

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 531, H.D. 3, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILDREN,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to amend the Early Intervention Services Law to be consistent with the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004.

     The Department of Education, the Hawaii Down Syndrome Congress, the Aloha Place, and thirteen individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Rehabilitation Services at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children, and Good Beginnings Alliance submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure.  The Department of Health submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.

     Your Committees find that early intervention services are a vital part of facilitating optimum development in children with identified delays in the area of cognitive, motor, adaptive, social-emotional, and language development.  The focus of early intervention is presently directed to children from birth to three years of age.  According to the testimony, the lack of comparable services for children between three to five years of age has created a break in the continuum of family‑centered, developmental services.  This gap in services for children between three to five years of age is due, in part, to a lack of adequate resources and funding to provide on‑going early intervention services in a natural environment.

     Your Committees received a statement from the Department of Health that, depending on the projection, this measure, if passed, would cost the State as much as $17,000 per child or a total amount of approximately $17,000,000 per year.  Several stakeholders testified in support of conducting a feasibility study first to ascertain, among other things, the cost and potential impact of a change to Hawaii's Early Intervention Section.

     It is the intent of your Committees to support the possible expansion of Hawaii's Early Intervention Section to continue services for children three to five years of age. 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting all of its provisions;

     (2)  Establishing a task force to study the feasibility of expanding Hawaii's Early Intervention Section to continue services for children three to five years of age;

     (3)  Requiring the task force to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2008 Regular Session;

     (3)  Appropriating $120,000 for fiscal year 2007-2008 for the purposes of this measure;

     (4)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2007; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Public Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 531, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 531, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Public Housing,

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair