STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2603

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 149

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 149, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for necessary long-term care services for aging and disabled individuals on Medicaid.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Community Services, City and County of Honolulu; Maui County Office on Aging; Catholic Charities Hawaii; Lanakila Pacific; AARP Hawaii; Community Alliance for Mental Health; PHOCUSED; and three individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Executive Office on Aging.

     Your Committees find that, as of November 2013, long-term care services for Medicaid beneficiaries are no longer covered by kupuna care or Older Americans Act funds.  As a result, hundreds of individuals on the island of Oahu are at risk of losing necessary long-term care services.  Your Committees received testimony expressing concern that the funds appropriated in this measure are appropriated to the Department of Human Services instead of the Executive Office on Aging.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding language that authorizes the Department of Human Services to transfer the appropriated funds to the Executive Office on Aging; provided that the funds are not co-mingled with kupuna care funds;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  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 Human Services and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 149, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 149, S.D. 2, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Ways and Means,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair