STAND. COM. REP. NO. 163

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 503

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 503 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require health insurance coverage for case management services by licensed mental health providers for victims of sexual violence and abuse.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; Hawaii Women's Coalition; American Association of University Women - Hawai‘i; Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii; Sex Abuse Treatment Center; YMCA O‘ahu; American Association of University Women – Windward O‘ahu; Community Alliance on Prisons; LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; National Women's Political Caucus, Hawaii Chapter; and twelve individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

     Your Committee finds that sexual violence and abuse are extremely prevalent.  According to testimony received by your Committee, an estimated 19.3 percent of women and 1.7 percent of men are survivors of rape, and an estimated 43.9 percent of women and 23.4 percent of men have experienced other forms of sexual violence within their lifetimes.  Statistics for child victims of abuse indicate that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn eighteen.

     Your Committee further finds that trauma from sexual violence and abuse can have significant, lasting impacts on a survivor's mental health, which can interfere with the survivor's functional ability to engage and interact with the world.  Survivors with mental health illness caused, in whole or in part, by sexual violence and abuse can require case management services, a professional intervention where a survivor's mental health provider helps the patient link to and coordinate with other service providers, systems, programs, and entitlements.  This measure requires insurance coverage for case management for victims of sexual violence and abuse, which will ensure that more survivors of sexual violence and abuse receive this particular kind of coordinated, multi-disciplinary care that is medically necessary for some survivors to recover and heal and which can help survivors avoid additional harm and decompensation.

     Your Committee has heard the testimony from the Department of Human Services that this measure may require an amendment to the section 1115 waiver to cover the services proposed by this measure.  Although your Committee understands these concerns, your Committee notes that managed care plans offered through the Department are already subject to the requirements of chapter 431M, Hawaii Revised Statutes, so language requesting approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will not be necessary.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that case management must be provided by a qualified mental health provider that identifies needs and assists victims of sexual violence and abuse;

     (2)  Clarifying that the proposed case management services under this measure shall be provided directly or contracted out, depending on the applicable health plan;

     (3)  Updating the purpose section; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 503, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 503, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair