STAND. COM. REP. NO. 506

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1747

       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 Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1747 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds, in addition to the $1,200,000 submitted in the Department of Health's 2007-2009 fiscal biennium budget request, to continue the maintenance and operation of developmental disabilities domiciliary homes and developmental disabilities apartment complexes.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health (DOH); State Council on Developmental Disabilities; The Arc in Hawaii; Opportunities for the Retarded, Inc.; and the Arc of Kona.

     Your Committee finds that providers of developmental disabilities residential services perform a vital service to the State by providing important residential services to persons with developmental disabilities or mental retardation.  Section 321‑15.9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, authorizes the DOH to make additional payments for residential services to the providers of developmental disabilities domiciliary homes and payments to the operators of developmental disabilities apartment complexes.

     The intent of this measure is to make up for funding shortfalls in 2005 and 2006.  According to the testimony, there have been closures of developmental disability domiciliary homes in the past several years due to operational funding deficits.  Without additional funding, the prospect looms real for other closures, leaving the State with the prospect of diminished residential alternatives.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting the specific amount appropriated, but recommends to the Committee on Ways and Means that the funding for the program contained in the measure be $600,000 in each of the next two fiscal years.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1747, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1747, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair