STAND. COM. REP. NO. 300

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 931

       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 Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 931 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EPIDEMIOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to protect public health from the potential spread of disease.

Specifically, this measure grants the Department of Health authority to demand entry onto any premises, public or private, for the purpose of conducting an administrative investigation, when the Director of Health finds that reasonable cause exists, to secure or collect any samples necessary for epidemiologic investigations.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health.  Copies of written testimony are available for review on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that this measure is necessary to protect public health by allowing the Department of Health to conduct epidemiologic investigations and collect samples in a timely manner in order to prevent the further outbreak of disease.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 931, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 931, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair