STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1523

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2023

 

RE:   S.B. No. 318

      S.D. 2

      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 S.B. No. 318, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require the Department of Health to establish and administer a five-year pilot program to implement a co-management system of care for the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders; and

 

     (2)  Appropriate funds for the establishment and administration of the pilot program.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Disability and Communication Access Board, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Action Group, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, and ten individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that of the nearly seventeen thousand babies born annually in the State, as many as eight hundred forty are estimated to have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.  Your Committee further finds that even using best practices, few children in the State are diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, or are misdiagnosed with other developmental disorders, resulting in delays in appropriate treatment.  This measure is intended to improve outcomes for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and promote health equity by establishing a pilot program for a multidisciplinary co-management system of care for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the length of the pilot program from five years to three years;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that the pilot program has a primary and secondary prevention component and tertiary prevention component that implements a co-management system of care for persons with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder;

 

     (3)  Specifying that the appropriation for the establishment and administration of the pilot program shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal biennium but shall lapse on June 30, 2026;

 

     (4)  Inserting an appropriation of an unspecified amount for the establishment of an annual public awareness campaign on preventing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder;

 

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

 

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

 

     Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $35,000 for an annual public awareness campaign on preventing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

 

     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 S.B. No. 318, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 318, S.D. 2, 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