STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2331

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2396

       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 Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2396 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to protect the health and safety of mental health professionals employed by the Hawaii State Hospital.

     Specifically, this measure makes an assault on an employee at a state-operated or –contracted mental health facility a Class C felony.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health and the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

     Your Committee finds that mental health professionals need to be protected from criminal behavior that, at times, occurs during the course of performing their job duties.  This measure imposes the same penalty on a defendant that knowingly assaults a staff member at the Hawaii State Hospital as is currently in place for assaults that occur in a school or correctional facility.

     Your Committee further finds that violence against nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals at mental health facilities is a problem that needs an immediate solution.  This measure is only a step towards a solution implementing effective and protective change.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by correcting a reference to the statute being amended and making other 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 Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2396, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2396, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair