STAND. COM. REP. NO. 405

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 838

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 838 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LONG-TERM CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to reestablish the Long-Term Care Commission within the University of Hawaii College of Social Sciences Public Policy Center to identify needed reforms of Hawaii's long-term care system.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging, College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i, Kupuna Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, AARP Hawai‘i, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and State Procurement Office.

Your Committee finds that virtually all of Hawaii's seniors prefer to age in place at home rather than in a care home or institution, and that many seniors will require more intensive services and caregiving at the end of their lives. This measure responds to the urgent need to make quality long-term care services as accessible, efficient, and effective as possible by reestablishing the Long-Term Care Commission to identify needed reforms of the long‑term care system, research program changes and resources necessary to meet the State's long-term care public policy goals, and explore an array of funding options that may help support the provision of long-term care services in the future.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Long-Term Care Commission is to be placed within the Social Science Research Institute in the College of Social Sciences of the University of Hawaii;

(2) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 838, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 838, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair