STAND. COM. REP. NO. 614

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 255

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 255 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for early intervention services for eligible children with Down syndrome.

     The Hawaii Down Syndrome Congress and eight individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Health, the Department of Education, and the Hawai‘i Early Intervention Coordinating Council submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.

     Your Committee finds that children with Down syndrome generally develop at a slower rate and have different patterns of development than typically developing children.  The goal of early intervention services for children with Down syndrome is to maximize each child's developmental potential and improve long-term functional outcomes for the children and their families.  Early intervention services provide developmentally appropriate activities to maximize a child's cognitive, communication, motor, self-help, and social-emotional growth until the child is ready for kindergarten.

     It is your Committee's intent to support the provision of early intervention services for eligible children with Down syndrome.  Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Education to:

          (A)  Design and implement an early intervention services pilot program for eligible children with Down syndrome; and

          (B)  Submit an interim report to the Legislature;

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Health to assist the Department of Education, as necessary, including in the provision of sign language, oral communication, and visual cues to help children with Down syndrome develop expressive language;

     (3)  Making the appropriation to the Department of Education for the purposes of this measure;

     (4)  Repealing the measure on June 30, 2012; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 255, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 255, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair