STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3210

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 408

H.D. 2

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 H.B. No. 408, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the Department of Health to, in its discretion, certify community care foster family homes (CCFFH) for a fourth adult who is a Medicaid recipient and has documented housing instability, if certain conditions are met; and

(2) Require the Department of Health to submit a report to the Legislature.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Department of Human Services, Department of Health, International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 1000, and Sebastian's ARCH LLC.

Your Committee finds that CCFFH are an integral part of the continuum of long-term care and provide a less restrictive community-based home for Medicaid recipients at a nursing facility level of care, which is a more expensive level of care. Your Committee further finds that CCFFH are currently allowed to have two residents, one of whom must be a Medicaid recipient, and may request for a third resident under certain conditions. This measure allows CCFFH to accommodate a fourth individual, increasing the availability of community-based housing for vulnerable residents of the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language that requires the Department of Health's certification of a community care foster family home for a fourth adult to be conditioned upon:

(A) The community care foster family home having a secondary caregiver, who is a certified nurse aid, as defined in section 457A‑1.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, who has completed a state-approved training program and other training as required by the Department of Health, who is on duty from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; and

(B) Submittal of an evaluation and report from a qualified service provider and health care provider for each adult proposed to be the fourth client in the community care foster family home;

(2) Inserting language that allows a caregiver of a community care foster family home to submit a request to the Department of Health to increase the home's bed capacity from three to four only after all vacancies in CCFFH located on the same island are filled;

(3) Clarifying that the Department of Health and the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness shall submit a report of their findings and recommendations on the authorization to allow one additional individual who is a Medicaid recipient to be cared for in the same community care foster family home and the benefits and impacts to homelessness and persons experiencing housing instability;

(4) Inserting language that requires the Department of Health and the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness to enter into a memorandum of agreement to implement this measure before the placement of any individual recommended for placement as a fourth adult in a certified community care foster family home;

(5) Inserting a repeal date of June 30, 2027; and

(6) 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 Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 408, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 408, H.D. 2, 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