STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3492

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2293

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2293, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Prevent Suicide Hawaii Task Force (Task Force) to develop annual recommendations to the Legislature with the goal of reducing suicide by twenty-five percent by 2025.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Department of Health, University of Hawai‘i System, Prevent Suicide Hawai‘i Taskforce, Department of Public Safety, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii Psychiatric Association, Mental Health America of Hawai‘i, Samaritan Counseling Center Hawaii, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action, and two individuals.

Your Committees find that in Hawaii, suicide accounts for twenty-five percent of all fatal injuries. According to the Department of Health, the percentage of teenagers in the State who plan to attempt suicide and the percentage of teenagers who die by suicide are among the highest in the nation. Your Committees further find that the Task Force convened in 1999 and is the largest and longest-standing grassroots collaborative focused on suicide prevention. This measure codifies the existing Task Force, thereby recognizing its importance to the State.

Your Committees acknowledge the testimony of the Task Force, which proposes amendments to the measure that would use preferred language regarding suicide and consolidate the Task Force's membership.

Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the phrase "commit suicide" and replacing it throughout with "die by suicide";

(2) Consolidating the representatives from each branch of the military into one representative from the Joint Military Suicide Prevention Taskforce;

(3) Consolidating the named representatives from the Hawaii Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention into one representative from the Hawaii Chapter as a whole;

(4) Updating section 1 to provide more recent statistical data; and

(5) 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 Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2293, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2293, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair