STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3378

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2220

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Higher Education and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2220, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii to increase the State's capacity to train new nurses and project future nursing workforce needs.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System, Department of Health, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and The Queen's Health Systems. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated the need for nurses to care for the ill. Nationwide and locally, there is a nursing faculty shortage with a vacancy rate of over fifty percent. The nursing faculty shortage has led to increased difficulty in finding lecturers to support clinical education for nurses in hospitals and health care settings. To meet the growing demand for nurses, nursing schools in the State need to increase faculty and lecturer hiring capacity. Additionally, increased funding is needed to support existing nursing faculty, provide transitions to faculty practice training, and align nursing workforce projections between the schools of nursing and industry partners.

However, your Committees note that the nursing program at the University of Hawaii at West Oahu has been terminated. While the nursing degree pathway at the West Oahu campus began in fall 2015, it currently offers only a bachelor's degree in health professions and health information management. The community needs of West Oahu, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, signal a dire need to reinstate and continue a nursing program at the West Oahu campus to offer students educational and professional opportunities within their communities.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Providing that the nursing program at the University of Hawaii, West Oahu, be reinstated as a condition for the appropriation;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2055; and

(3) 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 Higher Education and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2220, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2220, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Health,

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair