Bill Text: HI HB704 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Health; Home Care Agencies; Licensing; Appropriation

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [HB704 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-HB704-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1006

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 704

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 704, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOME CARE AGENCIES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to protect consumers of home care services by:

 

     (1)  Requiring home care agencies to be licensed by the Department of Health; and

 

     (2)  Appropriating funds for a position in the Department of Health to assist with licensure and monitoring of home care agencies.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union- Local 42.  Testimony in support of this measure with amendments was submitted by the Department of Human Services.  Comments on this measure were submitted by the Department of Health.

 

     Written testimony presented to your Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that home care is a rapidly increasing sector of the health care continuum.  The intent of mandating home care agencies to be licensed is to ensure that individuals are receiving quality services.  Your Committees further find that the licensure program may be better situated within the Department of Human Services rather than the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion on the matter; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 704, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 704, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair