STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2076

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2919

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 Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2919 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISABILITY HEALTH DISPARITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Human Services to submit a report focused on the health disparities experienced by individuals with disabilities in Hawaii to the Legislature before the Regular Session of 2023.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Full Life, Special Olympics Hawaii, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that the core mission of public health, which is to improve the health of all populations, is increasingly framed in terms of health disparities or health inequities. Health equity is achieved when all individuals are given the opportunity to optimize their health, and health inequities create disparities in the people's length of life; quality of life; rates of disease, disability, and death; severity of disease; and access to treatment. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), individuals with a disability face many challenges in achieving optimal health and accessing high-quality health care. However, people with disabilities have largely been unrecognized as a population for public health attention. The CDC also reports that as of 2019, an estimated one in four adults in Hawaii report having a disability, including impairments in mobility, cognition, hearing, vision, ability to live independently, and ability to selfcare. This measure will help the State and lawmakers obtain the necessary information to assess the status of disabled individuals in Hawaii, determine if health inequity exists between the disabled and non-disabled populous, and if so, measures that can be taken to prevent or mitigate the inequity.

Your Committee notes the testimony from the Department of Human Services stating that it will defer this matter to the Department of Health, as it does not have access to population health level information for people with disabilities. Your Committee also acknowledges that the Department of Health, on the other hand, does not have access to information on individuals with disabilities who participate in the Department of Human Services' Division of Vocational Rehabilitation programs or Med-QUEST plans. Your Committee also notes the testimony from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities that it is willing to take on the responsibility of compiling the report required under this measure; provided it will need to contract with outside sources to obtain the necessary information.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to submit a report focused on the health disparities experienced by individuals with disabilities in Hawaii to the Legislature, rather than the Department of Human Services;

(2) Appropriating an unspecified amount of funds to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to compile and submit the report; and

(3) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2919, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2919, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair