STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2752

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2434

       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. 2434, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to enhance services for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia.

     Specifically, the measure:

(1)  Specifies the duties and goals of the Alzheimer's disease and related dementia services coordinator; and

(2)  Appropriates funds for a full-time position to assist the Alzheimer's disease and related dementia services coordinator.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of the measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that approximately half of all individuals over the age of eighty-five today experience some form of memory loss.  By the year 2025, it is expected that there will be 34,000 people in Hawaii, over the age of sixty-five, who are diagnosed with dementia.  Your Committee finds that expanding the role of the Alzheimer's disease and related dementia services coordinator to include responsibilities for coordinating and supporting Alzheimer's disease related efforts, and providing that person with an assistant, will help to address and support individuals who suffer from memory loss diseases.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

     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. 2434, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2434, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair