STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2076

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2226

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2226 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SENIOR CITIZENS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to create and implement a  Silver Alert Program to be operated concurrently with the Maile Amber Alert Program to the greatest extent possible.

     Testimony in support of this measure was provided by the National Association of Social Workers, Hawaii Chapter, the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, and one individual.

     Testimony in opposition to this measure was given by the Department of the Attorney General, the Honolulu Police Department, and the Maui Police Department.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that the intent and purpose of this measure are important to the community but that the Silver Alert program may not be the most effective nor cost-efficient way to address the issue.  Your Committee also finds that there may be an inordinate amount of time trying to find out who the lost or missing elders are when they are found as well as how to help them find their homes.  Your Committee further finds that it would be a more efficient use of time and resources to utilize equipment and procedures already being developed by the Department of the Attorney General to address this problem, and that working in conjunction with the county police departments would be the most effective way to develop a missing senior citizen alert program.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by replacing its contents with language creating a new temporary task force made up of various contributing agencies which will collaborate to build, develop, and implement a system for creating a database of senior citizens to be used to identify them if they are missing or if a disoriented senior citizen is found and is unable to remember his or her identity.

     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. 2226, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2226, 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 Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair