STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2653

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2058

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2058, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII HEALTH CORPS LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate moneys for the implementation and administration of the Hawaii Health Corps' Hawaii Rural Health Care Provider Loan Repayment Program.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, the Puna Community Medical Center, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, the Hawaii Medical Association, the Hawaii Primary Care Association, the Koolauloa Health Center, and eight individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the State's shortage of primary health care providers threatens the health of Hawaii's residents and affects state health care costs.  Your Committee also finds that the increasingly high cost of education leads many health care professionals to seek jobs in urban areas that provide higher incomes, which has resulted in rural areas becoming medically underserved.  Your Committee believes that by appropriating moneys for the Hawaii Health Corps' Hawaii Rural Health Care Provider Loan Repayment Program, this measure will help ensure that all of Hawaii's people have access to quality health care by encouraging health care professionals to practice in the most underserved areas in the State.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

     (2)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for the purpose of clarity.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2058, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2058, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair