STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 578
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2023
RE: H.B. No. 1309
H.D. 1
Honorable Scott K. Saiki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2023
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Health & Homelessness and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1309 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CARE HOMES,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to provide monthly room and board payments for each Medicaid-eligible client under the care of certain types of licensed care home providers.
Your Committees find that home and community-based service providers carry out essential and necessary services to the State's elderly and vulnerable populations. These facilities prevent institutionalization by enabling individuals with intermediate care needs to remain in a home setting as part of a family. Your Committees further find that providing additional funds for these providers could help address rising costs caused by inflation and the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Your
Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Amending the statutory State Supplemental Payment
rate to reflect the increased amount proposed by this measure;
(2) Clarifying that the appropriation made by this
measure is for State Supplemental Payments, not monthly room and board payments
and for clients eligible for federal Supplemental Security Income, public
assistance, or both, rather than for Medicaid-eligible clients;
(3) Increasing the per-client payment amount from
$722 to $772 to reflect the inclusion of the client's Personal Needs Amount;
(4) Clarifying that the payments will be made to
licensed care home providers who care for certain clients authorized to receive
State Supplemental Payments;
(5) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000,
to encourage further discussion; and
(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments
for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health & Homelessness and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1309, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1309, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health & Homelessness and Human Services,
|
____________________________ JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair |
|
____________________________ DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair |