STAND. COM. REP. NO. 140

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 611

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 611 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BEHAVIOR ANALYSTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Make permanent the regulation of behavior analysts established by Act 199, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, and codified as chapter 465D, Hawaii Revised Statutes (Act 199); and

(2) Exempt the behavior analyst licensing program from the auditor's sunset evaluation pursuant to section 26H-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Education, Department of Health, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Together For Our Keiki, Hawai‘i Association for Behavior Analysis, and thirteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that since the enactment of Act 199, and the autism insurance law, Act 235, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, over fifteen hundred registered behavior technicians have been credentialed in the State. Your Committee further finds that several thousand children and other individuals have received access to applied behavior analysis services. Your Committee further finds that in December of 2020, the Auditor released Report No. 20-20, entitled "Sunset Evaluation: Regulation of Behavior Analysts," which supported the continued regulation of behavior analysts.

As the Auditor's sunset evaluation report has already been completed, your Committee has amended this measure by deleting section 3, which exempts the behavior analysts licensing program from the auditor's sunset evaluation requirement.

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. 611, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 611, 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