STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1340
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: H.B. No. 1301
H.D. 1
S.D. 1
Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi
President of the Senate
Thirty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2023
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1301, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CANCER,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and
intent of this measure is to appropriate
funds for the University of Hawaii Cancer Center to conduct a multiethnic
cohort study focusing on the social determinants of health, lifestyles,
environmental exposures, and resilience factors of Native Hawaiians, Pacific
Islanders, and Filipinos.
Your Committee
received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System, Office of Hawaiian
Affairs, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Hawaii
Medical Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and eleven
individuals.
Your Committee finds that medical research
has the potential to develop safe and effective methods to prevent, detect,
diagnose, treat, and ultimately cure cancer.
Despite developments in cancer research, Native Hawaiians, Pacific
Islanders, and Filipinos continue to experience high rates of common cancers,
and this problem continues to be understudied.
A new multiethnic cohort study of these populations is vitally important
to address this gap in research.
Findings by the cohort study will be useful to present and future cancer
treatment and research affecting Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and
Filipinos and will foster partnerships between these communities and medical
and research communities to define common priority research areas. Therefore, this measure appropriates funds
for the University of Hawaii Cancer Center to conduct a multiethnic cohort
study to improve lifestyle, social, cultural, and economic determinants of
cancer prevention, screening, early detection, treatment, and survivorship for
Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Filipinos.
Your Committee has
amended this measure by making
technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and
consistency.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1301, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1301, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,
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________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair |
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