STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2753

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2800

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 S.B. No. 2800, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE SHARING OF VITAL STATISTICS RECORDS WITH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PROGRAM EMPLOYEES FOR APPROVED RESEARCH PURPOSES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide an avenue for the Department of Health to share amongst its program employees certain personal health statistics records for research purposes, subject to approval by the Department's institutional review committee.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and Hawaii Children's Action Network. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that individuals have a significant privacy interest in their records that are held and maintained by the Department of Health. The State and, by extension, the Department of Health has an interest in conducting research using public health statistics, but this interest must be properly balanced against the significant privacy interests of the individuals whose records are used in the research. This measure will protect the privacy interest of individuals while allowing employees of the Department of Health to use vital statistics records for the purposes of research.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a public health purpose for approved research must substantially outweigh the confidentiality interest of the persons identified in a record for the record to be disclosed;

(2) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2035, for the purposes of clarity and consistency; and

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

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 S.B. No. 2800, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2800, S.D. 2.

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

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair