STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3466

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.C.R. No. 238

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Education, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 238 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION AND THE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH TO FORM A WORKING GROUP TO ASSESS WHETHER CHILDREN IN HAWAII WHO ARE DEAF OR SEVERELY HARD OF HEARING AND WHO CHOOSE THE AURAL/ORAL ROUTE OF COMMUNICATION RECEIVE PROPER TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO LEARN SPOKEN LANGUAGE SKILLS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Superintendent of Education and the Director of Health to form a working group to assess whether children in Hawaii who are deaf or severely hard of hearing and who choose the aural/oral route of communication receive proper training and support to learn spoken language skills.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Education, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, and five individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii School for the Deaf Alumni Club and Aloha State Association of the Deaf.

     Your Committees find that under federal law, the State is required to provide children who are deaf or seriously hard of hearing with access to least restrictive environments and individual education programs to establish a specific course of action for the children's education.  Furthermore, evidence-based research shows that deaf and hard of hearing children who receive an early diagnosis, proper amplification, and professional intervention services from trained experts can be mainstreamed into the school system early.  This measure forms a working group to assess whether a gap in education and health care exists for children with hearing impairments in Hawaii.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing the requirement that the working group submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature; and

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

     Your Committees note that the inclusion of $30,000 in the supplemental budget would assist the working group to perform its necessary work.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 238, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 238, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Education,

____________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair