SB1111

SECTION 1. In 2006, the Guttmacher Institute, a leading national policy and research agency, published a report ranking Hawaii fiftieth among the states in public funding for women accessing contraceptive services and supplies. The Guttmacher Institute report estimated that approximately sixty two thousand women in Hawaii need publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies because they have incomes below two hundred fifty per cent of the federal poverty level or are sexually active teenagers. In response to this report, Hawaii state legislature in 2006 adopted H.C.R. No. 226, H.D. 1, which requested the department of health to convene a working group to determine family planning funding needs for legislative consideration.

The department of health's family planning program convened a series of working group meetings, with twelve organizations represented, to determine the family planning funding needs. On November 20, 2006, the family planning program issued a report with its findings and recommendations. To effectively improve the State's reproductive health services and reduce unintended pregnancies in Hawaii, the H.C.R. No. 226, H.D. 1 working group recommended that clinical services, health education, and outreach services be expanded and upgraded as a system to improve access to these currently fragmented services.

The H.C.R. No. 226, H.D. 1 working group found that Hawaii reduced its state funds for publicly supported family planning services by ninety per cent in the mid nineties and has never reinstated this funding. In addition, Hawaii currently has the twelfth highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation.

The H.C.R. No. 226, H.D. 1 working group also recommends that increased public awareness of the health benefits of planned pregnancy, use of contraceptives, child spacing, and clinic locations is crucial to reducing Hawaii's unintended pregnancy rate.

The purpose of this Act is to provide an integrated and comprehensive approach to family planning and contraceptive services for Hawaii's women, teens, and men by:

(1) Providing funding for family planning and contraception services; and

(2) Providing funding for family planning health education and outreach services.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,443,750, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for family planning and contraceptive services.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this section.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,540,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, to: increase the family planning health educator contracts to full-time; double the number of health educators statewide; add funding for educational materials, multi-media equipment, and training; and add new and innovative outreach services of hard-to-reach populations.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this section.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1111
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII