STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2431

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2597

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 Health and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2597 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LOAN REPAYMENT FOR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Hawaii state loan repayment program administered through the John A. Burns School of Medicine, subject to a matching funds requirement.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Hawai‘i System, East Hawaii Region of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, The Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association, Hawai‘i State Rural Health Association, and three individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that the State faces a shortage of health care professionals. The shortage is particularly acute in rural communities in the State. The high cost of education for health care professionals often lead them to train in highly specialized fields of care and practice in urban areas, rather than maintain a general practice on neighbor islands or in underserved areas. Your Committees also find that the Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program administered by the John A. Burns School of Medicine successfully provided loan repayments to sixty-two individuals, with eighty-three percent remaining in Hawaii and seventy percent remaining at the site they performed their service. This measure appropriates funds to the Department of Health to fund the Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program to continue to provide a financial incentive to health care professionals working in health care shortage areas.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount; and

(2) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2597, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2597, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair