STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1052

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 320

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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 320, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUPPORTED DECISION-MAKING AGREEMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Allow qualified adults, including adults with a disability, mentally ill adults, and adults sixty-five years of age or older, to enter into supported decision-making agreements with one or more members of a supportive community; and

(2) Specify the terms of a supported decision-making agreement, including access to personal information, agreement requirements, and circumstances for termination.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging; Disability and Communication Access Board; State Council on Developmental Disabilities; one member of the Kauaʻi County Council; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; Hawaii Self-Advocacy Advisory Council; Easterseals Hawaii; Special Education Advisory Council; Full Life; and seven individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health; Department of the Attorney General; and Department of Human Services.

Your Committee finds that supported decision-making agreements allow adults with a disability, mentally ill adults, and adults sixty-five years of age or older to make their own decisions with the help of trusted supporters. This approach promotes greater autonomy, dignity, and self-determination, while also minimizing the need for more restrictive measures like guardianships, which can undermine an individual's rights and freedoms.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the definition of "vulnerable adult" as used in the supported decision-making agreements chapter;

(2) Prohibiting a qualified adult from entering into a supported decision-making agreement with a member of the supportive community who has been confirmed as the perpetrator of abuse of the qualified adult, any other qualified adult, or any vulnerable adult;

(3) Requiring a supported decision-making agreement to be automatically terminated if the member of the supportive community who entered into the decision-making agreement provides paid support services to the qualified adult; and

(4) 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 320, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 320, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair