STAND. COM. REP. NO. 30-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1799

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1799 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ASTHMA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Education to:

(1) Offer optional asthma education courses to students; and

(2) Develop and provide required asthma training to teachers and other department employees who interact with students.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Primary Care Association; American Academy of Pediatrics, Hawaii Chapter; Hawaii Medical Association; American Lung Association in Hawaii; Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!; AlohaCare; and four individuals. Your Committee received testimony in support of the intent of this measure from the Department of Health and Hawaii Association of School Psychologists. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education.

Your Committee finds that, according to the Department of Health, more than one hundred ten thousand Hawaii residents are living with asthma and approximately one-third of those are children. Although the asthma mortality rate has declined over the past ten years, there was an average of twenty-two deaths per year from asthma in Hawaii between 2013 and 2015.

Your Committee further finds that published research funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the Journal of School Health has shown that students who engage in school-based asthma education experienced significantly fewer days with activity limitations and significantly fewer nights of sleep disturbance after participation in the intervention. This measure seeks to also introduce asthma education courses to Hawaii's students and to provide training to teachers and other Department of Education employees to ensure students with asthma are able to thrive in all environments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that optional asthma self-management instruction to students with asthma is to be offered by the Department of Education, rather than offering courses to students;

(2) Authorizing, rather than requiring, the Department of Education to offer the optional asthma self-management instruction to students with asthma;

(3) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050; and

(4) 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 Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1799, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1799, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness.

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

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair