STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1079

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 55

       H.D. 1

       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 Human Services and Public Housing and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 55, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish a statewide Youth Suicide Early Intervention and Prevention Program, and to appropriate funds to the Department of Health to implement the program.

     The Department of Education; the Hawai‘i Psychological Association; Hawai‘i Suicide Prevention, Education, Awareness, Research; and the Hawai‘i Suicide Prevention Steering Committee and Task Force submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Health submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure. 

     Your Committees find that more children and young adults die from suicide each year than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, and chronic lung disease combined.  In Hawaii, suicide is the second leading cause of death among persons who are age fifteen to twenty-four years old.  Rates of youth suicide have been on the rise in the last decade among both females and males and among all ethnic groups.  Early intervention and prevention strategies have been listed as a national health priority in dealing with rising rates of youth suicide.  This measure will establish a Youth Suicide Early Intervention and Prevention Program for Hawaii.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the appropriation amount from an unspecified sum to $1; and

     (2)  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 Human Services and Public Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 55, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 55, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair