STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2105

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2658

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2658 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 to the Department of Health for the operating costs, including the purchase of two ambulance vehicles, equipment, supplies, and personnel costs, for one twenty-four hour, seven days a week ambulance unit each for the Counties of Kauai and Hawaii.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the County of Hawaii Office of the Mayor, Hawaii State Association of Counties, Hawaii County Councilmember Sue Lee Loy, Kauai County Councilmember Arthur Brun, Hawaii County Councilmember Eileen O'Hara, Hawaii Pacific Health Wilcox Medical Center, Hawaii Pacific Health, Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, American Medical Response, Ohana Pacific Management County, and seven individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committee finds that the populations of the Counties of Kauai and Hawaii, particularly of the elderly and homeless, have grown and that ambulance response times have consequently increased in those counties, especially to outlying areas. Your Committee held a joint informational briefing on January 16, 2018, on emergency medical services in which the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee and the Department of Health's Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention Branch recommended that the addition of ambulance units to the Counties of Hawaii and Kauai be prioritized.

The recommendation expressed at the January informational briefing is echoed by testimony received by your Committee on this measure, which indicates that a new ambulance unit has not been added on Kauai since 1992 despite a 6.9 percent increase in population from 2010 to 2015. In certain areas of Kauai, from 2010 to 2015, thirty-four percent of emergency calls exceeded the mandated response time of twenty minutes. Similarly, on the island of Hawaii, the volume of emergency calls has increased without a commensurate increase in emergency medical services to areas such as Makalei and Puna.

Your Committee finds that response times are critical in matters of life or death. This measure appropriates funds to ensure that residents in the Counties of Hawaii and Kauai receive the same level of emergency medical services that are available to residents in other areas of the State, with the goal of improved health outcomes in emergencies.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2658 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair