STAND. COM. REP. NO. 731

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 510

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 510, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH SERVICES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Formally establish the Hawaii keiki:  healthy and ready to learn program;

     (2)  Provide funding to expand and sustain the Hawaii keiki:  healthy and ready to learn program; and

     (3)  Appropriate funds to establish school health service coordinator positions in the Departments of Health and Human Services to increase coordination and facilitate departmental and interdepartmental activities related to comprehensive school-based health services.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, University of Hawai‘i System, Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii Medical Service Association, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Kapiolani Child Protection Center, Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Special Education Advisory Council, American Organization of Nurse Executives, IMUAlliance, Hui for Excellence in Education, Project Vision Hawai‘i, and eighteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Family Voices of Hawai‘i, and two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Human Services, Hawaii Primary Care Association, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, and one individual.

     Your Committees find that non-school factors such as chronic absenteeism, poor health, and delayed or limited access to healthcare and preventive services can impede a student's academic success.  Your Committees further find that school-based services such as early eye screenings and oral hygiene services for vulnerable keiki in pre-kindergarten through high school can improve academic outcomes and increase children's opportunity for economic achievement.

     Your Committees additionally find that the Hawaii keiki:  healthy and ready to learn program has expanded access to health services for many of the State's students.  Your Committees note that the partnerships the Department of Education has formed with other state and private entities have created a foundation upon which an expanded program may be built.  Your Committees find that an expanded program will be able to offer services in new areas of healthcare that students have not previously had access to in Hawaii's schools.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language to require that the Department of Education collaborate with community providers and other health care and education stakeholders, in addition to the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, and University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, to convene the Hawaii keiki:  healthy and ready to learn program as well as partner with the Public Health Nursing Branch of the Department of Health pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the parties;

     (2)  Inserting blank appropriation amounts;

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 510, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 510, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair