HB608 CD2.DOC

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	608
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011		H.D. 3
STATE OF HAWAII		S.D. 1
		C.D. 2

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO HEALTH.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

Section 1. This Act is recommended by the governor for immediate passage in accordance with section 9 of article VII of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii.

SECTION 2. The legislature finds that organ transplantation is a life-saving therapy for many critically ill patients with end-stage diseases. More than one hundred ten thousand patients are on the national organ transplant waiting list; four hundred seven of those patients are Hawaii residents.

Funding is critical to maintain a federally-recognized stage 3 chronic kidney disease program that focuses on prevention for disparate populations in Hawaii. Without operational organ transplant services in the State, patients with end-stage diseases must register on transplant waiting lists for mainland transplant centers and many of these patients will face a longer waiting time to receive a donor organ at a transplant center on the mainland than at a transplant center in Hawaii. The increased waiting time for an organ may mean that the sickest of those patients may not survive long enough for a donor organ to become available. In addition to the increased waiting time, many waitlisted patients in the State will have the additional burden of relocating to other areas of the country, away from friends and family, while awaiting a donor organ and during their recovery.

An emergency appropriation is necessary to preserve and save the lives of individuals combating organ failure by providing them with access to organ transplantation in the State and giving them quality care and treatment throughout their operation and recovery.

National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii provides a federally-recognized chronic kidney disease management program in Hawaii. It meets the eligibility requirements of section 42F-103, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for recipients of grants and subsidies. The Queen's Medical Center is establishing a kidney and liver transplant program in Hawaii. It also meets the eligibility requirements of section 42F-103, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for recipients of grants and subsidies, with the exception of approval as a member of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing with designations as a liver transplant program and a kidney and living donor kidney transplant program, for which it has applied and which it expects to receive approval on or before February 15, 2012.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate emergency funds, subject to dollar-for-dollar private matching funds, to support services by The Queen's Medical Center to perform kidney and liver transplants in Hawaii, and by the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii to maintain its chronic kidney disease management program.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,500,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2011-2012 as a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for The Queen's Medical Center to support services to perform kidney and liver transplants in Hawaii; provided that:

(1) No funds appropriated under this Act shall be expended unless matched dollar-for-dollar with private funds; and

(2) Any private matching funds obtained for the purposes of this Act shall have priority in being encumbered over public funds.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $300,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2011-2012 as a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii to maintain its chronic kidney disease management program; provided that:

(1) No funds appropriated under this Act shall be expended unless matched dollar-for-dollar with private funds; and

(2) Any private matching funds obtained for the purposes of this Act shall have priority in being encumbered over public funds.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 3 of this Act shall take effect on the date on which The Queen's Medical Center obtains approval as a member of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing with designations as a liver transplant program and a kidney and living donor kidney transplant program, and provided that a copy of the document evidencing the approval is delivered to the department of health.