STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1098-20

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2020

RE: S.B. No. 2637

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2637, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to protect children from lead hazards by:

(1) Requiring the Department of Health to establish a statewide program (Program) for the early identification of and intervention for lead poisoning in infants;

(2) Establishing benchmarks at which children in the State shall be tested for lead poisoning, based on age or environment;

(3) Requiring certain health care facilities to test their patients for lead poisoning; and

(4) Requiring insurance coverage for certain blood lead testing services.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!; Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii; Early Childhood Action Strategy; Muranaka Environmental Consultants, Inc.; and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Department of the Attorney General, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Hawaii Medical Service Association.

Your Committee finds that lead poisoning can have devastating, lifelong effects on children and can be the cause of learning disabilities, behavioral problems, high blood pressure, organ damage, and other health problems. Your Committee believes that although federal law mandates that all Medicaid-insured children be tested for lead poisoning at one and two years of age, the State should impose the same age-based testing requirement, as well as environmentally-based requirements, for all children.

Your Committee notes that should insurance coverage be mandated for the testing of lead poisoning, it may trigger a statutorily required impact assessment and may require the State to defray the costs of the additional benefit under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the persons covered by the Program from infants, which was defined as zero to three years of age, to instead include all children up to six years of age;

(2) Amending the definition for "lead poisoning" to correspond with the level determined by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

(3) Deleting the benchmarks and instead establishing that all children are considered at risk and be tested in accordance with Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment guidelines under Medicaid;

(4) Deleting the criteria for determining when a child is high-risk;

(5) Narrowing the responsibilities imposed on various health care providers to only primary care providers;

(6) Deleting the mandated insurance coverage; and

(7) 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 Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2637, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2637, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

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

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair