STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2258

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2126

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2126 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to consolidate the authority, duties, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health, as they relate to various health care services and to transfer the programs of the Department of Human Services relating to home and community-based case management, community care foster family homes, and adult day care to the Department of Health.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs and two individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Human Resources Development, and the Case Management Council.

     Your Committees find that the Department of Health has an established Office of Health Care Assurance that manages state licensing and federal certification of medical and health care facilities, agencies, and services provided throughout the State to ensure compliance with established standards of care.  Given the Office's existing functions, your Committees find that similar health care services currently provided by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health should be consolidated under the jurisdiction of the Office of Health Care Assurance to improve the efficiency, capacity, and quality of state health care services.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding an appropriation for the Department of Health to perform the duties and services that are not sufficiently funded by the funds transferred from the Department of Human Services;

     (2)  Adopting the Department of Human Resources Development's language, regarding the rights and benefits of the employees to be transferred to the Department of Health;

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2126, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2126, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair	____________________________ JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair
	____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair