STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2625

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2346

       S.D. 1

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. 2346, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide funding for various programs that benefit the State's elder population.

     Specifically, the measure appropriates moneys for:

(1)  Collaborative programs between health care and social service agencies that support Hawaii's senior citizens; and

(2)  A public education and awareness campaign on long-term care.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging, the Department of Community Services of the City and County of Honolulu, Office on Aging of the County of Maui, Catholic Charities Hawaii, ILWU Local 142, Aloha United Way, American Council of Life Insurers, AARP, and five individuals.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's senior citizen population will grow exponentially within the next twenty years.  Community-based programs that serve older adults will need to be adequately funded to keep pace with the increase in demand for those programs.

     Your Committee further finds that many adults in Hawaii lack sufficient information on long-term care, and as a result, they risk being unprepared for their long-term care needs or those of their family members.  Accordingly, your Committee finds that this measure will support community-based programs that serve seniors and efforts to raise public awareness of long-term care issues.

     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. 2346, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair