STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2323

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2660

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2660 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EPINEPHRINE AUTO-INJECTORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow authorized health care providers to prescribe and authorized entities to provide and administer epinephrine auto-injectors in emergencies and under certain conditions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Mylan, Inc.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health and Hawaii Association for Justice.

     Your Committee finds that an estimated one out of thirteen children in the United States has a food allergy, which can sometimes lead to a life-threatening allergic reaction.  Your Committee further finds that immediate access to epinephrine auto-injectors can be the difference between life and death.  This measure increases access to epinephrine auto-injectors, which will help prevent tragedies from occurring in Hawaii.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2660, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2660, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair