STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1532

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.C.R. No. 173

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.C.R. No. 173 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO UNDERTAKE PRELIMINARY EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND VACCINATION DRIVE EFFORTS AT SCHOOLS IN HAWAII WITH VACCINATION RATES UNDER FIFTY PERCENT, PRIORITIZING SCHOOLS WITH VACCINATION RATES UNDER THIRTY PERCENT, BEGINNING AT THE START OF THE 2025-2026 SCHOOL YEAR,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the Department of Health to undertake preliminary education, outreach, and vaccination drive efforts at schools in Hawaii with vaccination rates under fifty percent, prioritizing schools with vaccination rates under thirty percent, beginning at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education; Department of Health; State Council on Developmental Disabilities; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Hawaii Medical Association; Hawai‘i Public Health Institute; Hawaii Academy of Family Physicians Legislative Committee; and six individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Patriot Republicans; Cavalry Chapel Westside; Hawaiian Islands Republican Women; Free Citizens of Maunalua; Pono Records; and numerous individuals.

Your Committee finds that high vaccination rates are critical to maintaining herd immunity, which protects immunocompromised or otherwise vulnerable individuals from potentially fatal infectious diseases such as measles and smallpox through. Your Committee further finds according to the Department of Health, in the 2022-2023 school year the kindergarten MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine coverage rate was approximately eighty-six percent, well below the ninety-five percent coverage rate recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that in some private schools, over sixty percent of children are unvaccinated. Your Committee believes that promoting vaccination education, as proposed by this measure, to educate parents and students on the important role vaccinations play in protecting the most vulnerable members of a community and to dispel myths about the dangers of vaccination, is necessary to promote the public health and ensure Hawaii's children do not suffer unnecessary harm from entirely preventable diseases.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requesting the Department of Health to undertake preliminary education, outreach, and vaccination drive efforts at schools with vaccination rates under thirty percent, rather than at schools under fifty percent with prioritization given to schools under thirty percent;

(2) Amending its title in accordance with its amended purpose; and

(3) 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 Health that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 173, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Education in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 173, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair