STAND. COM. REP. NO. 397

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1245

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1245 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to:

     (1)  Continue administration of the Hawaii home visiting program, a hospital-based early identification program designed to enhance health and safety outcomes and prevent child abuse and neglect; and

     (2)  Ensure continuation of home visiting services in certain priority high-risk neighborhoods and areas.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Family Support Institute, Good Beginnings Alliance, Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, Child & Family Service, PHOCUSED, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

     Your Committees find that home visiting is a prevention strategy used by states and communities to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable families of newborns who are at risk for adverse health, safety, and developmental outcomes.  Over recent decades, research on early brain development, including the impact of trauma on the developing brain, has pointed to the need for early intervention and prevention to avert trauma and promote positive early brain development and learning.  In 2013, the Legislature established the Hawaii home visiting program.  The program is responsible for statewide hospital-based screening and home visiting services to identify families with newborns that may have health or safety concerns.  High risk families are referred to home visiting service providers who deliver evidence-based services to address the family's needs.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1245 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair