STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2249

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2736

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2736 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRISIS OUTREACH PROGRAMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Health for a statewide crisis outreach program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Adult Mental Health Division of the Department of Health, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, Community Empowerment Resources, Prevent Suicide Hawai‘i Taskforce, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that a crisis mobile outreach team is staffed by two professionals: a crisis intervention worker and a medic who is either a nurse or an emergency medical technician, and who are trained in de—escalation and crisis intervention methods. Sending a crisis intervention worker to attend to a person having a behavioral health crisis instead of law enforcement or emergency services saves millions of dollars in public safety spending and emergency medical costs, including ambulance transport and emergency room services. Your Committee also finds that crisis hotlines anticipate an increase in call volume following the activation of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline 9-8-8 code. This measure appropriates funds to the Department of Health for a statewide crisis outreach program.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2736, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2736, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair