STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2474

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2992

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2992 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to, beginning July 1, 2025, and every ten years thereafter, require the Department of Health to convene an Advisory Committee on Mental Health Code Review.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, and three individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from The Queen's Health System.

Your Committee finds that state law relating to mental health has been amended in piecemeal over several decades, leading to a lack of clarity and inconsistencies. The need for a regular and systematic review is essential to maintain the coherence and effectiveness of the state's laws relating to mental health. This measure will require comprehensive stakeholder reviews, similar to the way in which the state's penal code is reviewed every decade, to translate into actionable measures for the benefit of mental health in the state.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the Director of Health as a member and substituting the Governor's Senior Advisor for Mental Health and the Justice System as a co-chair member;

(2) Adding the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness as a co-chair member; and

(3) 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 Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2992, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2992, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair