HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	239
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING A SUNRISE REVIEW OF A PROPOSAL TO REGULATE ATHLETIC TRAINERS.

     WHEREAS, athletic trainers are health care professionals who specialize in the prevention, assessment, immediate care, treatment, referral, and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses sustained by athletes and others engaged in physical activity; and

     WHEREAS, athletic trainers are employed in public and private secondary schools, colleges and universities, physician offices, hospitals, sports medicine clinics, the military, and fitness centers; and

     WHEREAS, there are currently one hundred sixty-five certified athletic trainers in the State of Hawaii; and

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is one of only four states that does not currently regulate the practice of athletic training; and

     WHEREAS, the continued lack of regulation creates the risk that individuals who have lost or are unable to obtain licensure in another state will move to the State to practice, thereby putting the public in danger and degrading the standards of the profession as a whole; and

     WHEREAS, because the public has difficulty discerning the difference between athletic trainers, personal trainers, and boxing trainers, there is a risk that unqualified non-credentialed persons will represent themselves as "trainers" and mislead members of the public into believing that they are receiving care from health care professionals; and

     WHEREAS, there is a risk that Hawaii's athletic population could suffer consequences such as chronic pain, disability, or loss of life if health care is received from unqualified practitioners; and

     WHEREAS, there is a pressing and immediate need to regulate the profession of athletic training in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, especially since athletic trainers often work with elementary and secondary school age children; and

     WHEREAS, section 26H-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires regulatory measures that would subject unregulated professions and vocations to regulatory controls to be referred to the Auditor for analysis; and

     WHEREAS, Senate Bill No. 2601, S.D. 1, introduced and amended during the 2010 Regular Session, proposes to regulate athletic trainers through registration; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a sunrise review of the registration of athletic trainers as proposed under Senate Bill No. 2601, S.D. 1; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including any proposed  legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2011; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Athletic Trainers; Sunrise Review