STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1375-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: S.B. No. 2822

S.D. 1

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 Health, Human Services, & Homelessness, to which was referred S.B. No. 2822, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ASTHMA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Department of Education to offer optional asthma education instruction to students and provide asthma training to teachers and other Department employees who interact with students.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Disability and Communication Access Board, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, AlohaCare, Hawaii Medical Association, Early Childhood Action Strategy, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, American Lung Association, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that more than one hundred ten thousand Hawaii residents are living with asthma and approximately one-third of those are children. Every year, over five thousand people in Hawaii visit emergency rooms due to asthma, with infants and young children making up the majority of asthma-related medical emergencies and hospitalizations. 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 research funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the Journal of School Health revealed 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 authorizes the Department of Education to offer optional asthma education instruction to students and provide training to teachers and other Department employees to ensure students with asthma are able to thrive in all environments.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2822, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness,

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair