STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3554

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1906

H.D. 2

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1906, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE WORKERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make intentionally or knowingly causing bodily injury to certain health care workers a class C felony.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; United Public Workers, AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME, Local 152; The Queen's Health Systems; Board of Nursing; Hawaii Primary Care Association; Hawaii Medical Association; Hilo Medical Center; Hawai‘i Pacific Health; Hawaii Nurses Association, Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 50; One Kalakaua Senior Living; and seventy-four individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.

Your Committee finds that violence against healthcare personnel appears to be on the rise. According to the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics, healthcare workers experience violent assaults at a rate four times higher than the national average. Your Committee further finds that, under section 707-711, Hawaii Revised Statutes, there are additional penalties for a defendant who "intentionally or knowingly causes bodily injury" to certain classes of workers, such as educational workers, employees of state-operated or state-contracted mental health facilities, firefighters, and emergency medical services providers. Although some healthcare workers fall within the category of emergency medical services providers, many do not. This measure will extend additional penalties to cover violence against all healthcare workers.

Your Committee has amended this measure by abbreviating the legislative findings.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1906, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1906, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair