STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2227

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2595

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2595 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the Department of Health to develop and establish a family cost participation schedule of monthly cost participation fees for early intervention services; and

     (2)  Authorize the Department of Health to offer early intervention services on a fee-for-service basis for children who are ineligible for services under part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from four individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that last year, the Department of Health changed the eligibility standard for children who would qualify for early intervention services.  This change is projected to result in twenty-five percent fewer infants and toddlers receiving early intervention services, which include physical, occupational, and speech therapy.

     Your Committee also finds that although the Department of Health already has the authority to develop a sliding fee schedule for early intervention services on a fee-for-service basis for children who are ineligible under part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the cost to implement the sliding fee schedule may be greater than the total amount of fees that would be collected.  Your Committee further finds that providing early intervention services on a fee-for-service basis to ineligible children still does not address the children and families who may need but cannot afford services that promote child development.

     Your Committee has therefore amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Health and any other department or office responsible for providing early intervention services to maintain the eligibility criteria or the scope of covered services for early intervention services at a minimum of the same level that was in effect on January 1, 2012;

     (2)  Allowing children who were eligible as of January 1, 2012, to remain eligible for early intervention services under certain circumstances;

     (3)  Allowing, rather than requiring the Department to establish a family cost participation schedule for early intervention services, which may include a sliding fee schedule; and

     (4)  Allowing the Department to include in its contracts with early intervention service providers a provision that requires the provider to provide early intervention services on a fee-for-service basis, at a rate no higher than the amount the provider would have been reimbursed under its contract with the state contracting entity, to individuals who are ineligible under part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

     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. 2595, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2595, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair