STAND. COM. REP. NO. 368

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 675

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health, Judiciary and Labor, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 675 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREFIGHTERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Provide firefighters with comprehensive medical coverage through workers' compensation benefits by establishing a rebuttable presumption that a firefighter who suffers from cancer, blood-borne infectious disease, or exposure to biochemical substances contracted the condition in the course of employment; and

     (2)  Require the Hawaii State Fire Council to develop standards and procedures to ensure health and safety of firefighters who may be exposed to hazardous materials in the course of their duties.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Fire Council, Hawai‘i Fire Department of the County of Hawai‘i, Maui Fire Department, State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, and three individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Insurers Council.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu.

     Your Committees find that the risk of being diagnosed with cancer is significantly higher among firefighters than the general population.  In a three-year study completed in 2005 by the University of Cincinnati, researchers concluded that firefighters face a higher risk of cancer than the general population.  Firefighters also face a greater risk of contracting infectious diseases and illnesses associated with exposure to patient care and biochemical substances due to bioterrorism.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health, Judiciary and Labor, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 675, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 675, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health, Judiciary and Labor, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair	____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair
	____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair