STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1577

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: S.B. No. 1472

S.D. 2

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 Health & Homelessness, to which was referred S.B. No. 1472, S.D. 2, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to accommodate the increase in the volume of calls received by the Hawaii Coordinated Access Resource Entry System crisis helpline and ensure that individuals who access the crisis helpline are provided with appropriate crisis intervention services and crisis care coordination.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Coordinated Access Resource Entry System (Hawaii CARES) is a coordinated statewide network of service providers focused on crisis intervention, substance use disorder treatment, mental health, and other behavioral health services. Through its crisis helpline, Hawaii CARES connects the State's residents who are experiencing a mental health crisis with appropriate service providers to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and arrests, and provides continual care by staying in touch with the individual and providers throughout the duration of treatment. Your Committee further finds that Hawaii CARES also serves as the State's local crisis center for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, now known as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This measure is intended to accommodate the increase in call volume for the Hawaii CARES 988 call center and ensure that the mental health crisis response telephonic call center can continue to operate twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the preamble;

(2) Amending the appropriation for crisis mobile outreach services provided through contracted service providers to include on-call remote real-time consultation with certain health care providers;

(3) Including an appropriation of an unspecified amount for nineteen full-time equivalent (19.0 FTE) positions to support the operations of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics on Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii Islands;

(4) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of:

(1) $3,202,000 for the expansion and enhancement of the suicide crisis hotline through the Hawaii CARES crisis helpline;

(2) $2,961,892 for the expansion and enhancement of the crisis mobile outreach services provided through the Hawaii CARES crisis helpline, to be allocated as follows:

(A) $1,256,792 for providing crisis mobile outreach teams access to certain health care professionals for on-call remote real time consultation;

(B) $5,100 for on-call remote real-time consultation to be used by certain health care professionals for real-time consultation with crisis mobile outreach teams; and

(C) $1,700,000 for the establishment of preventive youth crisis teams;

(3) $1,900,000 for the expansion of licensed crisis residential shelter services provided through the Hawaii CARES crisis helpline;

(4) $8,205,200 for the expansion of bed stabilization services; and

(5) $1,072,000 for nineteen full-time equivalent (19.0 FTE) positions to support the operations of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics on Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii Islands.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1472, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1472, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health & Homelessness,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair