Bill Text: HI SB2600 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Respiratory Therapists; Licensure; Appropriation
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Passed) 2010-06-28 - (H) Act 178, on 6/28/2010 (Gov. Msg. No. 400). [SB2600 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-SB2600-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2254
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 2600
S.D. 1
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2010
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2600 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTHCARE,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to regulate the practice of respiratory care by establishing a respiratory therapist program within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and respiratory therapist licensure requirements.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii COPD Coalition and eighty-one individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Testimony in support of this measure with amendments was submitted by The Queen's Medical Center, the Hawaii Society for Respiratory Care, and the American Board of Internal Medicine. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs submitted testimony with comments on this measure. Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.
Your Committees find that this measure establishes a regulatory scheme for respiratory therapists, who often treat the most critically ill patients in Hawaii as well as providing homecare to vulnerable populations, and will ensure the continued high quality of respiratory care that Hawaii is known for. Your Committees further find that by being one of only two states that does not regulate respiratory therapy, Hawaii has become a desirable destination for therapists with disciplinary problems in more tightly regulated states and that this measure addresses the situation to protect Hawaii's patients.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Including a section expressly establishing a respiratory therapist program within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to be administered by the Director of that agency;
(2) Clearly stating that this measure is not intended to affect other licensed or credentialed healthcare practitioners, particularly sleep technologists and employees of durable medical equipment providers;
(3) Requiring six credit hours per year of continuing education to renew a respiratory therapist license;
(4) Clarifying that only application fees are nonrefundable;
(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2011 to provide the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs sufficient time to implement the requirements of this measure;
(6) Clarifying that licenses shall be renewed triennially on or before June 30 of each year with the first renewal deadline set for July 1, 2014;
(7) Changing the date of the appropriations to reflect the effective date of this measure; and
(8) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes to ensure clarity and accuracy in the language of this measure.
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 S.B. No. 2600, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2600, 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,
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____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair |
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____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair |
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