STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1034

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 696

       H.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 696, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Hawaii Healthcare Workforce Advisory Board to help increase and strengthen the healthcare workforce in the State.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's healthcare demands will dramatically increase in the upcoming decade due to additional requirements established by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the already widening health disparity among Hawaii's residents.  However, with careful planning and preparation, Hawaii can meet these demands and ensure that access to quality healthcare remains a priority.  Specifically, the State must follow the recommendations made by the Hawaii Healthcare Workforce 20/20 plan to strengthen the pipeline into health careers and must take additional efforts toward meeting the health-related objectives and policies established by the Hawaii State Planning Act.

     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. 696, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair