STAND. COM. REP. NO. 922

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 613

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 613, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PHYSICIAN WORKFORCE ASSESSMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase the physician workforce, particularly for rural and medically underserved areas.

More specifically, this measure:

(1) Repeals the requirement that not less than fifty percent of the physician workforce assessment fees transferred or deposited into the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund be expended for physician workforce assessment and planning efforts;

(2) Repeals the cap on expenditures from the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund;

(3) Authorizes funds from the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund to be expended for loan repayments to physicians who commit to working in certain underserved areas; and

(4) Authorizes funds from the John A. Burns School of Medicine special fund to be expended for scholarships to medical students.

Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Hawaii System, Hawaii State Rural Health Association, The Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Primary Care Association, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaii Pacific Health, and one individual.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Medical Board.

Your Committees find that the scholarships and financial flexibility provided by this measure will help to reduce the student loan debt of medical school graduates so that they can afford to practice medicine in lower-paying rural and medically underserved areas of the State where the need for physicians is the greatest.

Your Committees have amended this measure by

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(2) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 613, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 613, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair