STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1725

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1379

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1379, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow a pathway for foreign medical school graduates to be licensed as physicians in a manner that was previously only available to graduates who passed the qualifying examination of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates before 1984; and

(2) Establish an alternative pathway for foreign medical graduates who passed certain examinations, possess an Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates certificate, and have completed two years of post‑graduate medical training, to be licensed as physicians.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Medical Board, Hawaiʻi Pacific Health, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Philippine Medical Association of Hawaiʻi, Hawaii Medical Association, and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the State is facing a health care workforce shortage that threatens public health. As of 2023, the State suffered a physician shortage of nearly eight hundred physicians in comparison to the continental United States. While there are more than twelve thousand licensed physicians in the State, not all are currently providing patient care or practicing full-time. It is therefore critical to explore alternative options to expand the number of practicing physicians in the State. Accordingly, this measure eliminates the time restriction on when the qualifying examination of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates should have been passed and establishes an alternative pathway to licensure, thereby creating a greater pool of foreign medical school graduates eligible for licensure in the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1379, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________

JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair