STAND. COM. REP. NO.  479-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 2262

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2262 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REPORTING DEATHS TO STATE AGENCIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to save taxpayer money and avoid overpayment of benefits and waste of public funds by allowing the Department of Health to share, pursuant to a written agreement and upon request, death information with state agencies that maintain official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency's activities and are prohibited by federal law from sharing information from the lists.

The Department of the Attorney General, Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, and Department of Budget and Finance provided testimony in support of this measure.  The Department of Health and Department of Human Services provided comments on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Allowing the Department of Health to develop and implement a systems interface to electronically deliver death information with other state agencies;

     (2)  Inserting a sunset date of July 1, 2016; 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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2262, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2262, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

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

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair