STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2640

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3180

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. 3180 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Rural Health Task Force within the Department of Health to make recommendations on registered nurse recruitment and retention in rural areas of east Maui, Molokai, and Lanai.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Maui County Council; The Queen's Health Systems; Hana Health; Hawai‘i Primary Care Association; Liberty Dialysis--Hawaii, LLC; Molokai Community Health Center; and eight individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, and Hawai‘i--American Association of Nurses.

Your Committee finds that since 2019, more than nine hundred nurses have left the workforce in Hawaii due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the cost of living, and lack of affordable housing in the State. This shortage has impacted the State's rural communities the hardest. This measure would provide the Department of Health with assistance from health care providers currently working in the rural communities in east Maui, Molokai, and Lanai to develop a plan to recruit and retain nurses for these and other rural areas.

Your Committee acknowledges the testimony of the Hawaii Primary Care Association, which requested that a representative of the Molokai Community Health Center be included on the task force, as it is one of only five organizations providing primary care on Molokai, serving forty percent of that island's population. Your Committee also acknowledges the testimony of the Department of Human Services, which requested to be removed from the task force, as it lacks expertise in recruiting and retaining nurses.

Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the Director of Human Services from the task force;

(2) Adding one representative of Molokai Community Health Center as a member to be invited to participate on the task force;

(3) Clarifying that members participating on the task force are not subject to chapter 84, Hawaii Revised Statutes, solely because of the member's participation on the task force; and

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

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. 3180, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3180, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

________________________________

JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair