STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3123

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 538

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 538, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Create the intellectual and developmental disabilities Medicaid waiver administrative claiming special fund; and

(2) Require the Department of Human Services to report to the Legislature an annual report of the receipts of and expenditures from the special fund.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Health, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, The Arc in Hawaii, Full Life, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, The Arc of Kona, Easterseals Hawaii, and twelve individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

Your Committees find that the Department of Health's Developmental Disabilities Division operates the Hawaii Medicaid Section 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Services for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Waiver (Section 1915(c) Waiver) pursuant to a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Human Services, which supervises the administration of the Section 1915(c) Waiver. The Department of Health has claimed minimal amounts of allowable Medicaid federal financial participation, or Medicaid waiver administrative claiming funds, for the proper and necessary costs it incurred in administering the Section 1915(c) Waiver. However, these Medicaid waiver administrative claiming funds are currently being deposited into the general fund, which limits the Developmental Disabilities Division's ability to implement new federal requirements for the Section 1915(c) Waiver. The creation of the intellectual and developmental disabilities Medicaid waiver administrative claiming special fund will allow the Developmental Disabilities Division to use monies for various services to assist individuals, families, and community stakeholders applying for and navigating the Section 1915(c) Waiver process. Your Committees further find that establishing a working group will provide an opportunity for the Division to improve existing services for individuals applying for and currently enrolled in the Section 1915(c) Waiver program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to establish a temporary working group to examine and evaluate the application process of the Section 1915(c) Waiver and existing services provided by the Developmental Disabilities Division; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 538, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 538, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair