STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3198

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 33

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 33 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE ON AGING, THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO CONDUCT A COLLABORATIVE STUDY AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO INFRASTRUCTURE AND WORKFORCE SHORTAGES IN THE STATE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to effectuate the recommendations of the Maui Health Initiative Task Force established pursuant to Act 219, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, concerning a collaborative study conducted on infrastructure and workforce shortages in the State.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Executive Office on Aging.

     Your Committees find that planning an integrated and coordinated long term care policy among the counties and the State is of vital importance to the great number of residents who depend, or will in the future, on the availability of quality long term care services for themselves or a family member.  As such, the work of the Long Term Living Initiative should continue to be supported.

     Your Committees have amended this measure and its title by incorporating the joint comments made by the Department of Human Services and the Executive Office on Aging by replacing the request for a collaborative study and a report submitted to the 2009 Legislature, with a call for the Departments of Health and Human Services, the Executive Office on Aging and the State Health Planning and Development Agency, to continue their work on the Long Term Living Initiative to expand long term care infrastructure, workforce development, financing mechanisms, and to begin a new focus on partnering with the counties to plan an integrated and coordinated policy with the State.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 33, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 33, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair