STAND. COM. REP. NO. 916

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 69

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 69, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure the availability of comprehensive quality health care and alleviate the health care workforce shortage in Hawaii.

     The measure accomplishes this purpose by appropriating funds to support the development and maintenance of a statewide comprehensive health care workforce map and database that assesses staffing needs.

     Your Committee received comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii Medical Service Association and a physician.  The Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the County of Hawaii submitted comments.

     Your Committee finds that a severe shortage of health care workers exists in our State, especially on the neighbor islands.  Your Committee further finds that data is essential to understanding our workforce needs.  The state health planning and development agency and numerous other state agencies and professional organizations are part of a Workforce Hui that has long been in discussions about a database to help determine workforce supply needs.  This bill is intended to acknowledge the work accomplished by the Workforce Hui and support those collaborative efforts by providing funding to develop and maintain a database for workforce needs analyses.

     Your Committee has amended the measure by:

(1)  Adding language to section 1 that clarifies the bill's intent to support the Workforce Hui's efforts to compile a health care workforce supply database; and

(2)  Designating the state health planning and development agency as the expending agency for the appropriation.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 69, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 69, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair