STAND. COM. REP. NO. 42

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 310

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 310 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to reduce hospitalization and incarceration of persons with severe mental illness through the establishment of an assisted community treatment program.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety; State Council on Mental Health; Mental Health America of Hawaii; Institute for Human Services, Inc.; Hawaii Catholic Conference; Helping Hands Hawaii; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; National Alliance on Mental Illness; Institute for Human Services; and two individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

     Your Committees find that there are serious problems of high incarceration and hospitalization rates of those with severe mental illness.  Assisted community treatment provides an opportunity for people with serious mental illness to be treated in the least restrictive setting and reduces the trend toward criminalizing mental illness.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting all references to services provided in correctional facilities, as assisted community treatment is an outpatient program;

     (2)  Changing all references from "gravely disabled" to "obviously ill";

     (3)  Changing the court ordered commitment period from twenty-four to forty-eight hours; and

     (4)  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 Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 310, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 310, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair