STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 324
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: H.B. No. 474
H.D. 1
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 474 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FALL PREVENTION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The
purpose of this measure is to appropriate
funds to the Department of Health for the Fall Prevention and Early Detection
Coordinator position established by Act 153, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure
from the Executive Office on Aging; AARP Hawai‘i;
and one individual. Your Committee
received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.
Your Committee finds
that falls among adults aged sixty-five and older are the leading cause of
injury death for individuals in that age group.
Your Committee further finds that Act 153, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014
(Act 153), established and appropriated funds for a Fall Prevention and Early
Detection Coordinator position within the Department of Health's Emergency
Medical Services and Injury Prevention Systems Branch. Your Committee believes that appropriating
funds to address fall prevention will ensure safety and well-being of the
State's older residents.
Your
Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000,
to encourage further discussion; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments
for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
Your Committee notes the testimony of the Department
of Health before your Committee, which stated that a full-time equivalent
position dedicated to addressing fall prevention already exists within the Department
of Health's Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention System Branch and
that the funds appropriated by this measure may be better used to assist the
existing Fall Prevention and Early Detection Coordinator in enhancing and
expanding statewide programs and services that address fall prevention.
Accordingly,
your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it
deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation of $100,000 for the
existing position and removing language specifying that the funds appropriated
by this measure be used specifically for the Fall Prevention and Early
Detection Coordinator position established by Act 153.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 474, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 474, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,
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____________________________ GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair |