STAND. COM. REP. NO 67

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 792

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 792 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Health in support of the state dental health initiative.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities; The Queen's Health Systems; Capitol Consultants of Hawaii, LLP; Center for Oral Health; Hawaii Dental Hygienists' Association; and four individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii is in a position to develop a groundbreaking process to address the unmet dental health care needs of its most vulnerable citizens.  Significant adverse health and socio-economic conditions exist as a result of untreated oral diseases among the State's most vulnerable populations, especially underserved children, pregnant women, seniors, adults with chronic conditions, people with special care needs, and ethnic minorities, including native Hawaiians, Pacific islanders, and Filipinos.  Furthermore, poor understanding of the dental health status prevents the development of effective and cost-efficient strategies and public policies to address the dental health care needs of the most vulnerable residents of the State.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 792 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair