STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2551

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2051

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2051 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISABILITY HEALTH DISPARITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to collect data and submit to the Legislature a report focused on the health disparities experienced by individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities in the State before the convening of the Regular Session of 2026; and

(2) Make an appropriation.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Alzheimer's Association – Hawaii, and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities experience disproportionate health disparities compared to those without disabilities. Decades of research has established that people of minority groups living in the United States receive poor health care and have poor health outcomes, including populations with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite a critical need to document health disparities of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, the State presently relies on data from 1994-1995 that does not reflect the State's population or current trends. Therefore, this measure provides critical data for the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to expand access to care and services for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

Your Committee notes that this measure contains an appropriation for an unspecified amount. Your Committee urges the stakeholders to determine an appropriate figure to be considered by your Committee on Ways and Means, should it choose to deliberate on this measure.

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. 2051, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2051, 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