STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2444

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2337

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2337 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE OFFICE OF THE LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the office of the long-term care ombudsman for six full-time ombudsman specialist positions; two each on Oahu and Hawaii and one each on Kauai and Maui.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Long-Term Care Ombudsman; County of Hawai‘i Office of Aging; Maui County Office on Aging; International Longshore Warehouse Union Local 142, Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition; Americans for Democratic Action; Kokua Council; AARP Hawaii; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; Alzheimer's Association, Aloha Chapter; Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs; and seven individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Executive Office on Aging.

Your Committee finds that in the Executive Office on Aging reorganization of June 2015, the long-term care ombudsman program was reduced in staff to only the director, making Hawaii the only state in the country with a long-term care ombudsman program staff of one. In 1995, a time when most residents lived in nursing homes, the Institute of Medicine recommended at a minimum one full-time paid ombudsman for every two thousand long-term care residents. Hawaii has over twelve thousand long-term care residents, most of whom live in the community rather than in nursing homes, which creates greater challenges. Under the 1995 recommendation, Hawaii should have a minimum of six full-time long-term care ombudsmen.

This measure therefore establishes and funds six long-term care ombudsmen positions within the office of the long-term care ombudsman to work under the supervision of the long-term care ombudsman in achieving the goals of the program as mandated by the United States Administration on Aging through the Older Americans Act.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing "an annual" and inserting "a quarterly" in the preamble; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2337, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2337, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

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RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair