STAND. COM. REP. NO. 281-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 1827

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Labor & Government Operations and Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1827 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to:

(1) Support the Public High School Health Care Workforce Certificate Program; and

(2) Renovate and equip certain public high school classrooms to be used for health care training.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Department of Education; Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Hawaiʻi State Center for Nursing; Hawaiʻi Primary Care Association; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi; and two individuals.

Your Committees find that addressing growing shortages in the State's health care workforce is in the public interest and a key priority for the State. The Public High School Health Care Workforce Certificate Program is designed to equip high school graduates to fill entry-level health care positions that pay a living wage and offer opportunities for career advancement. This measure supports health care training for the State's public high school students, helping to meet Hawaii's long-term health care workforce needs.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor & Government Operations and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1827, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1827, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor & Government Operations and Education,

____________________________ JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair

____________________________ SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair