STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2581

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2181

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2181, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ACCESS TO TREATMENT FOR TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow, beginning January 1, 2017, manufacturers of investigational drugs, biological products, or devices to make available such drugs, products, or devices to terminally ill patients under certain conditions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association for Justice.

     Your Committee finds that the process of approval for investigational drugs and biological products in the United States protects future patients from premature, ineffective, and unsafe medications and treatments over the long run, but the process often takes many years.  Patients who have a terminal illness do not have the luxury of waiting until an investigational drug or biological product receives final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

     Your Committee further finds that patients who have a terminal illness have a fundamental right to pursue the preservation of their own lives by accessing available investigational drugs or biological products.  Several states have passed "right-to-try" legislation that makes available experimental drugs without Food and Drug Administration approval to terminally ill patients with no other medication or treatment options.

     As this measure moves forward in the legislative process, your Committee encourages further discussion among stakeholders concerning any issues related to the enforcement of restrictions on the use of controlled substances potentially implicated by its scope.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting all references to "devices" and "device";

     (2)  Inserting language to clarify the authorization of manufacturers to make available drugs and products to terminally ill patients under certain conditions notwithstanding section 328-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

     (3)  Amending the definition of "terminal illness" to remove the word "soon" as it pertains to when a death or state of permanent unconsciousness will occur; and

     (4)  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 Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2181, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2181, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair