STAND. COM. REP. NO. 526

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 139

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 139, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INSURANCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require insurers, mutual benefit societies, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for standard fertility preservation services for policies, contracts, plans, and agreements issued or renewed after December 31, 2025.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network; Hawaii Society of Clinical Oncology; FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered; Fertility Institute of Hawaii; Advanced Reproductive Medicine and Gynecology of Hawaii, Inc.; Hawaii Association of Health Plans; Hawaii Medical Service Association; and five individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Office of the Auditor.

Your Committee finds that some cancer treatments can cause iatrogenic infertility when chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery damage reproductive cells, reproductive organs, or endocrine functioning. These treatments can also adversely impact the ability to carry a pregnancy. Although patients facing iatrogenic infertility have recognized, effective options for preserving fertility, the high cost of these procedures and the narrow window to obtain services means these procedures are unattainable for many people. This measure assists in the offsetting of those costs by mandating coverage for standard fertility preservation services.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 139, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 139, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair