STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2533

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2352

       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 Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2352, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PSYCHIATRIC FACILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to streamline the notification process prior to the discharge of a patient civilly committed.  Specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Requires the administrator or attending physician of a psychiatric facility to provide notice of intent to discharge a patient or patient's admission to voluntary treatment;

     (2)  Applies section 334-60.7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to only civil commitments as a direct result of legal proceedings;

     (3)  Requires the notice of intent to discharge or patient's admission to voluntary treatment to be served by mail to the appropriate prosecuting attorney and at the person's last known address, unless the person waives this right in writing;

     (4)  Increases from three to five days the period of time after mailing of the notice within which an objection must be filed or the administrator or attending physician shall discharge or accept the patient for voluntary inpatient treatment; and

     (5)  Requires courts to conduct hearings within seventy-two hours, and prior to the termination of the current commitment order, to determine if the patient still meets the criteria for involuntary hospitalization.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; The Queen's Health Systems; and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

     Your Committee finds that patients are remaining involuntarily committed to hospitals due to the difficulty of obtaining a court hearing and order, even after the patient is ready to be discharged.  Your Committee further finds that while these patients remain involuntarily committed, hospitals are forced to use precious resources that could serve other patients in need.  This measure streamlines the notification process prior to discharge of a patient civilly committed pursuant to criminal statutes, thereby allowing for a simplified discharge process, while safeguarding the right of individuals who require notification of the patient's discharge to object.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by adopting the language suggested by the Department of the Attorney General to:

     (1)  Clarify that the notice of intent to discharge and a certificate of service shall be filed with the family court and served by mail to the person's last known address and sent to the prosecuting attorney of the county from which the person was originally committed, by facsimile or electronically, for the sole purpose of victim notification;

     (2)  Clarify that an objection can be filed within five calendar days;

     (3)  Specify that a court is required to conduct a hearing as soon as possible, rather than within seventy-two hours, to determine if the patient still meets the criteria for involuntary hospitalization;

     (4)  Require a person filing an objection to notify the psychiatric facility by telephone on the date of the filing of the objection;

     (5)  Amend section 334-76, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to require an administrator of a psychiatric facility with respect to patients committed on court order from a criminal proceeding to send a notice of the intent to discharge or patient's admission to voluntary inpatient treatment by mail to the person's last known address and to the prosecuting attorney of the county from which the person was originally committed by facsimile or electronically; and

     (6)  Make technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2352, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2352, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair