STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3097

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 

 

RE:     S.B. No. 75

        S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 75, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO APPROPRIATIONS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation to the Department of Health to implement coronavirus 2019, or COVID-19, response measures in the State.

 

     More specifically, this measure makes an emergency appropriation of $6,000,000, to be allocated as follows:

 

     (1)  $800,000 for contracted services to provide multi-media public education and awareness campaigns;

 

     (2)  $200,000 for quarantine and self-monitoring;

 

     (3)  $1,300,000 for laboratory testing, equipment, and supplies, including four additional full-time equivalent (4.0 FTE) department of health staff positions;

 

     (4)  $2,500,000 for disease outbreak surveillance and response, including various supplies, equipment, and activities;

 

     (5)  An unspecified sum for other personnel expenses related to COVID-19 response, including overtime, travel, and supplies;

 

     (6)  $200,000 for command supplies and equipment, including the deployment of hand sanitizer stations at critical state facilities and other public areas;

 

     (7)  $200,000 for the Kauai district health office for county of Kauai-specific response;

 

     (8)  $500,000 allocated to the Hawaii district health office for county of Hawaii-specific response; and

 

     (9)  $300,000 allocated to the Maui district health office for County of Maui-specific response.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of the Governor, Department of Health, Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, and Department of Education.

 

     Your Committee finds that due to the fast-moving and unpredictable spread of COVID-19, as well as general and increasing public concern regarding preparedness, it is timely and necessary to appropriate funds to support various activities of the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Defense to detect, contain, mitigate, and respond to COVID-19.

 

Your Committee also finds that while initial response measures centered on containment, the progression of COVID-19, including the first diagnosed case in the United States that appears to have been contracted via community transmission, not through travel to an exposure area or through contact with an infected person, requires that response measures must now focus on mitigation efforts, including supplies, equipment, personnel, contracted services, and other expenditures necessary for mitigation.

 

Your Committee notes that the Department of Health, as part of its mitigation efforts, is expected to collaborate with Department of Education to establish, and if necessary, implement a COVID-19 response plan should school closures become necessary.  At minimum, this COVID-19 response plan should include strategies to ensure that adequate and accessible distance learning opportunities that meet State curriculum requirements are available to all Department of Education students in the State; and response measures for purposes of normalizing school operations once reopening of schools is authorized.

    

     Your Committee further notes that the Department of Defense, as part of its mitigation efforts, is expected to develop and implement a rural community plan to ensure at adequate emergency supplies are available for COVID-19 response within appropriate ready-access areas of rural communities in the State.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting language to section 1 of the measure specifying that coronavirus disease 2019 may adversely impact the State's economy;

 

     (2)  Increasing the total emergency appropriation amount for COVID-19 response to $10,568,750;

 

     (3)  Amending the funds appropriated to the Department of Health to $6,600,000, to be allocated as follows:

 

          (A)  $800,000 for contracted services to provide multi-media public education and awareness campaigns;

 

          (B)  $200,000 for quarantine and self-monitoring;

 

          (C)  $1,300,000 for laboratory testing, equipment, supplies and the hiring of contract personnel;

 

          (D)  $2,500,000 for disease outbreak surveillance and response, including various supplies, equipment, and activities;

 

          (E)  An unspecified sum for other personnel expenses related to COVID-19 response, including overtime, travel, and supplies;

 

          (F)  $200,000 for command supplies and equipment, including the deployment of hand sanitizer stations at critical state facilities and other public areas;

 

          (G)  $200,000 for the Kauai district health office for County of Kauai-specific response;

 

          (H)  $500,000 for the Hawaii district health office for County of Hawaii-specific response;

 

          (I)  $300,000 for the Maui district health office for County of Maui-specific response; and

 

          (J)  $600,000 for sanitation items;

 

     (4)  Inserting an appropriation of $2,788,750 to the Department of Transportation to obtain resources necessary to protect the health and safety of Hawaii's population and economy from any threats entering through the State's airports and harbors, including installation of sanitation teams, additional staff and training to conduct appropriate screening, advanced medical care services, acute quarantine facilities, and for Kona in the County of Hawaii, a basic life support ambulance and associated equipment;

 

     (5)  Including an appropriation of $1,180,000 to the Department of Defense for emergency management and response, including certain operating expenses and the purchase of certain equipment, supplies, and services;

 

     (6)  Inserting a provision authorizing the Governor to transfer of any funds appropriated in the measure; provided that the Governor submit to the Legislature a summary report of any use of this authority within thirty days of any transfer;

 

     (7)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

     (8)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     Your Committee recommends that $35,000 be the amount appropriated to the Department of Health for other personnel expenses related to COVID-19 response, including overtime, travel, and supplies.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 75, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 75, S.D. 2, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair