STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2548

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2103

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2103 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAREGIVER RECOGNITION DAY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish an annual Caregiver Recognition Day on the first Saturday of November.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Executive Office on Aging, the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, the Maui County Executive on Aging, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

     Your Committee finds that both formal and informal caregivers are the backbone of the long-term care system, and that the caregivers of Hawaii should be given public support in recognition of their value to the community.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Incorporating the comments made by the Executive Office on Aging to make the specific list of recognized caregivers more general; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity 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. 2103, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2103, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair