Bill Text: HI HCR15 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting A Review Of The Efficacy Of The Technology Resources Of The Department Of Health.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-18 - The committee(s) on PDP recommend(s) that the measure be deferred. [HCR15 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-HCR15-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	15
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting a review of the efficacy of the technology resources of the department of health.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed structural problems in how the Department of Health collects and shares its data, and that these deficiencies include the lack of sufficient personnel familiar with data science, underpaid and overworked public servants, and outdated systems that are incapable of handling modern-day problems; and

 

     WHEREAS, during the first six months of the pandemic, the Department of Health withheld essential data about the virus from the public and took five months to provide racial breakdowns of COVID-19 deaths in the State and six months to an accurate number of contact tracers investigating cases; and

 

     WHEREAS, at least until its recent change in leadership, the Department of Health had been unwilling to disclose certain data, often citing privacy concerns, and had been unwilling to cooperate with outside organizations in multiple instances; and

 

     WHEREAS, even after the change in leadership, the Department of Health did not publish details about how many new cases arose from people in quarantine and did not provide many details about its contact tracing efforts, such as how many people the department received contact lists from, and of those contacts, how many people were interviewed, and no public records were released on how timely the department's interviews were; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the Senate concurring, the Auditor is requested to conduct a review of the efficacy of the technology resources of the Department of Health as implemented in the department's COVID-19 contact tracing; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to make recommendations on how the Department of Health may improve its policies so as to result in more timely and transparent information on COVID-19 tracking and what other resources may be needed to implement those recommendations; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2022; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and Director of Health.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Auditor