STAND. COM. REP. NO. 440

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 190

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 190 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY CARE FOSTER FAMILY HOME,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to allow married couples who are not reliant on state and federal aid for medical services to reside in the same community foster family care home if each spouse is eighty years of age or older and the couple has been married for forty years or more. 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Coalition of Caregivers; Talavera Case Management Agency; Adult Foster Home Association, Big Island Chapter; Ohana Alternative Care Service; the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, Legislative Committee; Hilo Baptist Church; New Hope Hamakua; and over three hundred individuals.  The Department of Human Services and the Attorney General submitted testimony in opposition to the measure.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that community care foster family homes accept both Medicaid and private pay clients in need of long-term care.  Under section 346-331, Hawaii Revised Statutes, two adults are permitted to reside in a community care foster family facility, and at least one of these adults must be a Medicaid recipient.  The Department of Human Services may, in its discretion, allow one additional resident; however, the third resident must also be a Medicaid recipient.  These requirements prevent two private pay clients from residing together in a community care foster family home, even if they are married or share a similar close relationship.

     Your Committee finds that the residential requirements for community care foster family homes have resulted in the separation of husbands and wives when both spouses are private pay clients.  Spouses in the last phase of their life are deprived of the comfort and support of their long-time companions.

     However, your Committee finds that the measure may unfairly deprive spouses who do not meet the conditions imposed by the measure or other closely related private pay couples of the benefits of living together.  Further, your Committee has concerns that the measure is challengeable under the equal protection clause of the Constitution because it discriminates against private pay couples who wish to live together but who do not meet the age and marriage duration requirements.

     Your Committee has amended the measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to allow two private pay clients to live together in a community care foster family home, and further requiring the Department to define the relationship two private pay clients must share in order to benefit from this right within the confines of the equal protection clause;

     (2)  Amending the effective date of the measure to make the measure effective upon approval;

     (3)  Removing the sunset provision from the measure; and

     (4)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to implement the measure within one month of its approval with interim rules, and thereafter establishing permanent rules by December 31, 2009, pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 190, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 190, 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,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair