STAND. COM. REP. NO. 752

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 276

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 276, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELDER AND VULNERABLE ADULTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Hawaii kupuna trust fund as a separate fund of a nonprofit entity to be selected by the Director of Health, with the concurrence of the Governor, to award grants to augment elderly and vulnerable adult care.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, the Maui County Office on Aging, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and two individuals.  Written comments in opposition to this measure were received from the Department of Budget and Finance and the Department of Health, Executive Office on Aging (EOA).

     Your Committee finds that the trust fund will be used to raise funds to supplement or provide additional support to the public funding of senior services, and will not replace or adversely impact priorities indicated in the Executive Budget.  Your Committee notes, however, that the Executive Office on Aging believes that the measure may duplicate the ongoing work of the office.  Your Committee therefore expresses its hope that the concerns of the Executive Office on Aging will be further explored as this measure crosses over to the House of Representatives for its consideration.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the selected nonprofit entity to submit its annual audits to the Department of Health and to permit specified public entities to inspect and have access to any of the materials pertinent to the fund and audit;

     (2)  Making consistent the use of the term "elderly and vulnerable adults";

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 276, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 276, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair