STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1430

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: S.B. No. 668

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. 668, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PHYSICAL THERAPY COMPACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Adopt the Physical Therapy Compact;

(2) Require the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to adopt rules for the implementation and administration of the Physical Therapy Compact; and

(3) Require physical therapist and physical therapist assistant applicants to submit a full set of electronic fingerprints for criminal history record checks and authorize the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to conduct these criminal history record checks.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the United States Department of Defense, Physical Therapy Compact Commission, Hawaii Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Regulated Industries Complaints Office, Board of Physical Therapy, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, and Hawaii Association for Justice.

Your Committee finds that there is a chronic shortage of physical therapists in Hawaii owing in part to, until recently, the absence of an academic program in Hawaii. This shortage has impacted the delivery of proper rehabilitation services to the spectrum of the State's population, especially on the neighbor islands. This measure allows the Governor to enter Hawaii into the Physical Therapy Compact. Your Committee further finds that the purpose of the Physical Therapy Compact is to increase consumer access to physical therapy services by reducing regulatory barriers to interstate mobility and cross-state practice while maintaining the high standards of qualifications for physical therapy providers. Your Committee also finds that thirty-three states and the District of Columbia are currently members of the Physical Therapy Compact.

Your Committee notes the request raised in testimony by the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs that adoption of the Physical Therapy Compact be delayed for two years to allow the Division time to allocate sufficient resources to process and support Physical Therapy Compact related licenses.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language holding members, officers, executive directors, employees, and representatives of the Interstate Commission liable for any damage, loss, injury, or liability resulting from the officer's or employee's negligence or gross negligence;

(2) Appropriating funds in an unspecified amount for the establishment of one position and internal database updates to allow the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division to process Physical Therapy Compact related licenses;

(3) Changing the implementation date of the Physical Therapy Compact to July 1, 3025; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $142,876.

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. 668, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 668, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

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

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair