STAND. COM. REP. NO. 984

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 763

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 763, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ELDERLY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to improve and maintain the health of Hawaii's growing elderly population by requiring and providing funds to the Executive Office on Aging to establish a three-year senior playground pilot program.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Executive Office on Aging.

     Your Committee finds that age is the single most important factor influencing health status and the need and demand for health care resources.  Estimates indicate one out of every five individuals in the State will be aged sixty-five or older by 2030 and health care costs associated with falls alone approximates $19,000,000,000 in annual health care costs nationwide.  Your Committee further finds that an increasing number of states are establishing senior playgrounds to help keep elderly individuals active, healthy, and safe.  Senior playgrounds are designed as fitness parks that keep seniors active and reduce their propensity to fall through active exercise and opportunities to work on balance and dexterity.

     Your Committee heard testimony from the Executive Office on Aging expressing concern about building new senior playgrounds due to the Office's lack of resources for program maintenance and supervision, cost of the program, lack of expertise regarding land use and conveyance of land, and questions about program participants and enforcement.  The Executive Office on Aging agrees, however, that it is important to address the well-being of Hawaii's older adults, including fitness and fall prevention.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by changing the pilot program to consist of a collaboration between the Executive Office on Aging and the City and County of Honolulu to identify an existing playground and modify it to include intergenerational activities suitable for older adults.  More specifically, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending the name of the pilot program to be the intergenerational playground pilot program instead of the senior playground pilot program;

     (2)  Requiring the intergenerational playground pilot program to be a collaboration with the City and County of Honolulu as part of the age-friendly city initiative established by the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu;

     (3)  Deleting provisions of the pilot program that required consultation with various departments and agencies, design and implementation of new senior playgrounds, determination of land available for senior playgrounds, and amendments to respective ordinances and rules to permit senior playgrounds;

     (4)  Inserting language that requires the pilot program to identify an existing playground within the City and County of Honolulu and modify the playground to include activities that support the fitness of older adults;

     (5)  Inserting language that requires the annual reports regarding the pilot program to be submitted to the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu in addition to the Legislature, and modifying report requirements to address the nature of the intergenerational playground pilot program; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 763, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 763, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services and Housing,

________________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair