STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2112

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2988

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 Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2988 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Health for the implementation and sustainability of the kupuna caregivers program and require the Executive Office on Aging to submit a report to the Legislature that details kupuna caregivers program outcomes.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Health Association, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Chapter - American Physical Therapy Association, Mental Health America of Hawaii, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Hawaii Section, AARP Hawaii, Ho‘omanapono Political Action Committee, PHOCUSED, The Young Progressives Demanding Action, Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Faith Action Community Equity, ILWU Local 142, American Association of University Women, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Hawaii Women's Coalition, Caring Across Generations, and twenty individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health Executive Office on Aging.

Your Committees find that the appropriation provided for in this measure will expand an important program for Hawaii's kupuna and their families on a statewide basis.

Your Committees note that the program also includes safeguards to ensure that consumers receive quality care; in order to receive assistance through the kupuna caregivers program, an individual must be a qualified caregiver who provides care for an elder who qualifies for the kupuna care program.

Your Committees have heard the concern of the Executive Office on Aging with respect to the additional burden that would be imposed by an additional, separate report to the Legislature. Your Committees agree that requiring the Executive Office on Aging to provide a separate report would be needlessly burdensome, and that the same information can be included in the Executive Office on Aging's existing report to the Legislature.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the requirement that the Executive Office on Aging submit a separate report on kupuna caregivers program outcomes with a requirement that the Executive Office on Aging include the requested information on kupuna caregivers program outcomes in its existing report to the Legislature; 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 Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2988, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2988, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair