STAND. COM. REP. NO. 355

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 1487

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1487 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE SENIOR MEDICARE PATROL PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for three additional positions within the State's Senior Medicare Patrol Program to meet the rising demand for assistance caused by increased reports of fraud, medical billing errors, and abuse.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging, Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, AARP Hawai‘i, and seven individuals.

Your Committee finds that the State's Senior Medicare Patrol Program was established in 1997 to educate, protect, and advocate for the State's seniors and has operated with only two full-time staff to recruit, train, and retain a cohort of volunteers statewide. This measure will expand the Executive Office on Aging's personnel capacity to meet the demands for timely, accurate, and reliable services to kupuna, their families, and caregivers in need.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(2) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $229,680.

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 H.B. No. 1487, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1487, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair