STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2488

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2341

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2341 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RESPIRATORY THERAPISTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make permanent the regulation of respiratory therapists under chapter 466D, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Office of the Auditor, Hawaii Society for Respiratory Care, Hawaii COPD Coalition, and thirty-one individuals.

     Your Committee finds that respiratory therapists provide assessment, therapy, rehabilitation, evaluation, and care for patients with conditions that affect the respiratory system.  Respiratory therapists also work and come into contact with patients in a variety of health care settings, including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and rehabilitation facilities.

     Your Committee further finds that the Auditor is required to evaluate newly enacted regulatory programs prior to each program's repeal date.  The regulation of respiratory therapists is scheduled to repeal on June 30, 2016.  However, based on the Auditor's report from June 2015, continued regulation of respiratory therapists is warranted to protect the health and safety of consumers, due to the nature of services offered by respiratory therapists.  Accordingly, this measure makes permanent the regulation of respiratory therapists in Hawaii.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2341, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2341, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair