STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2734

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2579

       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. 2579, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to study the needs of psychiatric facility patients and develop a suitable facility.

     Specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Establishes a task force to study the needs of populations to be served by a new inpatient psychiatric facility and develop a coordinated interagency action plan to implement the needed services; and

     (2)  Appropriates funds to address identified gaps in facilities and services by developing a suitable inpatient psychiatric facility in which services can be provided for the mentally ill who need stricter security and for inmates and detainees who need a higher level of mental health care.

     Written comments in support were submitted by the Department of Health and the Community Alliance for Mental Health.

     Your Committee finds that the State is facing a severe shortage of resources to effectively address the needs of individuals committed to state custody who require strict security and intensive inpatient mental health treatment.  Forming a task force to study the needs of patients to be served by a new inpatient psychiatric facility, and appropriating funds to develop a suitable facility, will ensure that patients receive appropriate care and treatment in an environment that ensures the safety of patients and staff.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the appropriation shall be for the planning, design, and construction of the facility;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; 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 Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2579, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2579, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair