STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2474

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3050

       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. 3050 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to expand the list of persons mandated to report known or suspected abuse of vulnerable adults.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and the National Association of Social Workers.  Comments on the measure were submitted by the Department of Human Services and the Hawaii Disability Rights Center. 

     Your Committee finds that the vulnerable adults in our community are defenseless against abuse and neglect and deserve to be afforded the maximum protection possible, and that this measure would strengthen the protection provided.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Incorporating the comments made by the Hawaii Disability Rights Center by amending section 346-224, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to specify that all of the section's reporting requirements are mandated to the maximum extent permitted by federal law;

     (2)  Incorporating the comments made by the National Association of Social Workers by deleting the former subsection (7) as overly broad, and by adding social workers to the list of mandated reporters in its place; and

     (3)  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. 3050, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3050, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair