STAND. COM. REP. NO.  188-10

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2010

RE:   H.B. No. 2095

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2095 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure the availability of emergency care by a physician by establishing an Emergency Room Physician Tax Credit (Tax Credit) to encourage emergency and critical care specialists to work in hospital emergency rooms on an on-call basis.

     The Hawaii Medical Association, The Queen's Medical Center, and the Hawaii Association for Justice supported this bill.  The Department of Taxation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii submitted comments.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1)  Clarifying that the Tax Credit applies to physicians who provide medical care in a state-approved hospital emergency room on an on-call basis, have provided over 576 on-call hours, and are not delinquent in their state taxes;

(2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

(3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for clarity, consistency, 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 H.B. No. 2095, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2095, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair