STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1378

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1046

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1046, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Replace the term "school health aides" with "school health assistants" to reflect recent changes to the job title; and

(2) Authorize the administration of medication to public school students by school health assistants with the approval of a health care professional within the Department of Education, the Department of Health, or a health care service pursuant to a written agreement with the Department of Education.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Department of Health, University of Hawai‘i System, Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, and Epilepsy Foundation of Hawaii. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that providing high quality student health care during school hours allows students to receive timely treatments on site and minimize time spent away from the classroom. Presently, all medication requests in a public school setting are reviewed and require approval by the Department of Health. Additionally, current law prevents health care professionals who are already on campus from performing the function of medication administration approval. This measure streamlines the process for health care administration in Department of Education schools to ensure all students have access to needed medication.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1046, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1046, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair