STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3119

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 54

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing and Human Services, to which was referred S.R. No. 54 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HIGH TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION TO ESTABLISH A GERIATRIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY PARK IN CENTRAL OAHU,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the High Technology Development Corporation to establish a geriatric research and technology park in central Oahu.

     Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation and High Technology Development Corporation.

     Your Committees find that age is the single most important factor in understanding health status and the need and demand for health care resources.  Since statehood, Hawaii's elderly population as a percentage of the total state population has increased three-fold, from roughly five percent in 1960 to fifteen percent in 2012.

     Your Committees further find that Wahiawa provides one of the top senior care service programs.  Aged to Perfection is an adult day care center providing elders with social activities, meals, and general supervision, drawing interns from top universities across the country, including the University of Hawaii, University of Southern California, and University of Arizona.  Establishing an economic hub for the geriatric industry may attract new businesses and technologies to provide jobs for Oahu communities, including central Oahu, as well as products and services for neighboring geriatric facilities and programs.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requesting that the High Technology Development Corporation establish a working group, rather than a geriatric research and technology park, with the Executive Office on Aging and Wahiawa General Hospital to establish a geriatric research and technology park in central Oahu;

     (2)  Directing the working group, rather than the Board of Directors of the High Technology Development Corporation, to administer the geriatric research and technology park;

     (3)  Inserting language to include an aging and disability resource center as a component of long-term care objectives for the geriatric research and technology park;

     (4)  Requesting the Board of Directors of the High Technology Development Corporation to develop the geriatric research and technology park in consultation with the Executive Office on Aging, Wahiawa General Hospital, and working group, rather than the Aging and Disability Resource Center, Aged to Perfection, and the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; and

     (5)  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 Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 54, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 54, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing and Human Services,

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair