STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2807

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2235

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2235, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require each student to receive a physical examination within one year of attending seventh grade.

     The Department of Health submitted written comments on this measure.

     Your Committee acknowledges that the language specifying the timeframe for a student to receive a physical examination, along with the method of documentation, is a work in progress and requires further refinement.  It is the intent of your Committee to provide flexibility in the requirements established by this measure so that physical examinations do not become a barrier to school attendance, while ensuring that every student undergoes a physical examination during the years of middle school.

     Your Committee finds that currently, physical examinations are conducted upon initial attendance at any school for the first time in the State.  Requiring students to receive an additional physical examination upon entry into seventh grade will provide a broader, systematic approach to connect children to health care providers.  Your Committee further finds that an additional physical exam will also reinforce a culture of wellness and preventative health while providing an opportunity to address developmentally relevant physical and mental health issues.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by specifying that proof of a completed physical examination be presented by written documentation.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2235, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2235, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair