STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2439

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2748

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 Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2748 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Health to submit a request, as authorized by federal regulation, to the United States Department of Education to allow parents of children with a disability to continue receiving early intervention services after the child turns three years of age and until the child enters kindergarten.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Disability and Communication Access Board, Hawai‘i Association for Behavior Analysis, and three individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!

Your Committees find that under the federal Individuals with Disability Education Act, P.L. 101-476 (IDEA), the State is required to provide services to support the development of infants and toddlers with disabilities from birth until three years old. IDEA provides states with the option to extend early intervention services to eligible children between the ages of three and five years old. This measure requires the Department of Health to exercise the option to extend early intervention services.

Your Committees acknowledge the testimony from the Department of Health and other stakeholders who raised concerns that the Department does not have sufficient resources or funding to implement the extension of early intervention services. Your Committees also find that the measure, as currently drafted, adds a provision to the Hawaii Revised Statutes; however, the measure is not intended to be a general and permanent law of the State and would be better styled as session law.

Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Making an appropriation to the Department of Health to plan, prepare and implement the extended Part C option, which may include hiring staff;

(2) Planning the provisions in session law rather than amending the Hawaii Revised Statutes;

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

(4) 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 Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2748, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2748, 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 Health and Human Services,

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair