STAND. COM. REP. NO. 908

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 62

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 62, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote and increase medical education and training.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Reestablishes the Hawaii medical education special fund to support graduate medical education and training programs;

(2) Appropriates moneys for the creation of additional medical residencies and training opportunities for medical students in counties with populations of not more than five hundred thousand; and

(3) Appropriates moneys for the expansion of medical residency and training opportunities in partnership with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Hawaii Pacific Health, Hawaii Primary Care Association, Kaiser Permanente, The Queen's Health System, and Hawaii Medical Association.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the University of Hawaii, Department of the Attorney General, and Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that the State currently faces a shortage of physicians, which has resulted in some residents being unable to obtain timely and appropriate care. Your Committee further finds that this measure will help to both increase the number of physicians and encourage those physicians to practice medicine in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding a new section that appropriates moneys from the Hawaii medical education special fund for the purposes of medical education and training programs; and

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 62, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 62, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair