CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 166

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2019

RE: S.B. No. 567

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

C.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sirs:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 567, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATED TO MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to require:

(1) The administrator or attending physician of a psychiatric facility to assess whether an assisted community treatment plan is indicated, and if so, make certain arrangements;

(2) The Department of the Attorney General to assist with the petition for assisted community treatment and related court proceedings and appropriate an unspecified amount of funds to be expended by the Department for that purpose; and

(3) The Department of Health to convene a Mental Health Emergencies Task Force.

Your Committee on Conference finds that following emergency care or hospitalization, many mentally ill patients are released with no plan in place for follow-up care or treatment. Predictably, many of these individuals fall into a pattern of crisis and emergency intervention. Although the assisted community treatment program exists to provide care for such individuals in the community, many mentally ill individuals do not participate in community treatment plans. Furthermore, community agencies and families often lack the resources to navigate the complex and congested court system associated with associated community treatment orders. Appropriating funds to provide legal assistance with petitions for assisted community treatment will encourage increased utilization of the assisted community treatment program.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that required the administrator or attending physician of a psychiatric facility to assess whether an assisted community treatment plan was indicated and make certain arrangements;

(2) Deleting language that required the Department of the Attorney General to assist with the petition for assisted community treatment and related court proceedings;

(3) Inserting an appropriation amount of $100,000 for the Department of Health to contract for legal assistance with petitions for assisted community treatment and related court proceedings, rather than appropriating funds for the Department of the Attorney General to assist with the petitions;

(4) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2019; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 567, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 567, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ JOHN M. MIZUNO Co-Chair	____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER Chair
____________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA Co-Chair	____________________________ KARL RHOADS Co-Chair
____________________________ BERTRAND KOBAYASHI Co-Chair	____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH Co-Chair