STAND. COM. REP. NO. 214

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 942

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 Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 942 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL RESPONSE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require each Department of Education school to establish a critical medical emergency response team and procedures to respond immediately to critical medical emergencies; and

(2) Appropriate funds for public schools for the critical medical emergency teams.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Caring for Hawai‘i Neonates, Hawaii Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Group, and fifteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that in critical medical emergencies, each minute matters, as long-term injuries, brain damage, and even death can occur within just a few minutes in some types of emergencies. Your Committee further finds that this measure will ensure public schools are equipped with a critical emergency response team and the procedures necessary to respond immediately to support children, faculty, and staff who face a critical medical emergency.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing language which would have required:

(A) A certain number of critical emergency response team members to be available on each school campus on each school day;

(B) Critical emergency response team members to participate in drills, table-top exercises, and all critical emergency response team activities;

(C) Each school to develop a known, practiced, and maintained communication method to activate their critical emergency response team members;

(D) Each school to run no less than two critical medical emergency drills during each school year;

(E) An internal table-top exercise, review, corrective action plan, and support for schools that conduct drills with a delayed response time; and

(F) Critical emergency response team member drill reports and reviews to be published on each school's and the Department of Education's website;

(2) Requiring each public charter school to establish a critical emergency response team;

(3) Appropriating an unspecified amount of funds to the State Public Charter School Commission for critical medical emergency teams at the charter schools;

(4) Clarifying that the purpose of this measure is to require each public school's administration and public charter school's administration to appoint any member of its staff to be a critical emergency response team member;

(5) Changing its effective date to June 30, 3000; and

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

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. 942, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 942, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Health & Homelessness.

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

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair