STAND. COM. REP. NO. 568

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 453

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 453 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for one ambulance unit each for the County of Kauai and the County of Hawaii, including equipment, supplies, and personnel costs.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of the Mayor of the County of Hawaii; the councilmember for the third district of the County of Hawaii; the councilmember for the third district of the City and County of Honolulu; the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Hawaii; Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, Local 1463; Hawaii Pacific Health; American Medical Response--Kauai County; Hawaii State Association of Counties; five concerned paramedics; and eighteen concerned individuals.

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from one concerned individual.

     Your Committee finds that despite significant population increases over the past fifteen years, the last time the County of Kauai received an additional ambulance was in 1992 and the County of Hawaii has not received an additional ambulance since 2005.  Your Committee further finds that the Department of Health Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention Branch has identified Puna and the surrounding areas of the County of Hawaii, as well as the County of Kauai, as the highest areas of need for additional ambulance units.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     Although the appropriation amount in this measure is unspecified, your Committee notes that the requisite funds needed for each ambulance unit is $1,500,000, for a total cost of $3,000,000.

     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. 453, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 453, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair