STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2489

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2586

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, Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2586 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CARE FACILITIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the Department of Health, upon receipt of a report that an entity is operating a care facility without the required certification or licensure, to investigate to determine the validity of that report, subject to certain conditions;

(2) Establish certain actions the Department may take upon confirming a report of the operation of a care facility without certification or licensure;

(3) Establish a misdemeanor offense for intentionally or knowingly obstructing or interfering with the Department's right of entry to a facility for its investigation; and

(4) Establish penalties for intentionally operating a care facility without a certificate or license and knowingly referring or transferring patients to an uncertified or unlicensed care facility.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman, League of Women Voters, and eight individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Maile Case Management, Comprehensive Innovations for Senior Services, and nineteen individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from Healthcare Association of Hawaii, AARP Hawaii, and Chinatown Gateway Plaza Tenant Association.

Your Committees find that health care facilities serve a vital role in providing care to all people of Hawaii, especially elderly individuals who depend on services provided by licensed healthcare professionals and facilities. Your Committees further find that over the past few years, the number of potentially unlicensed care facilities has increased and may pose significant risk to the health, safety, and welfare of patients. In addition, the Department of Health has been hampered in conducting investigations on unlicensed care facility operators who refuse to speak with the Department's investigators or to allow entry for the purpose of determining if the facility is operating without a certificate or license. Authorizing the Department to investigate care facilities will ensure that all care facilities are certified and licensed to provide the necessary care to their patients.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a purpose section;

(2) Inserting definitions for the terms "care facility", "department", "health care provider", "person", and "vulnerable adult";

(3) Requiring the Department of Health to exercise its right of entry pursuant to a warrant; and

(4) 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, Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2586, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2586, 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, Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, and Judiciary,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair	________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair
	________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair