STAND. COM. REP. NO. 410

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 902

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 902 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAREGIVERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for a caregiver workforce support and development center within the Executive Office on Aging.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health Executive Office on Aging, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, AARP Hawai‘i, Kūpuna Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that there is an urgent need to recruit and retain formal and informal caregivers within the State. The percentage of Hawaii's population seventy-five years old and above is expected to double by 2045, increasing the demand for long-term care in both institutional and home settings. The State is already facing a health care workforce shortage, with home health agencies sustaining the highest percentage of vacancies at thirty-nine percent. To ensure accessibility to care for Hawaii's kupuna, this measure establishes and funds a caregiver workforce support and development center to develop and expand the State's long-term and home- and community-based caregiver workforce.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Executive Office on Aging shall establish and appropriate funds for a workforce development and support center rather than a caregiver workforce support and development center;

(2) Specifying the activities the proposed workforce development and support center is authorized to perform consistent with the testimony submitted by the Executive Office on Aging;

(3) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(4) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(5) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 902, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 902, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair