STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2622

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3094

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 Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 3094 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PEER SUPPORT SPECIALISTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a working group to create a statewide framework for peer support specialists; and

(2) Appropriate funds for the establishment of the peer support specialist working group, including for the Office of Wellness and Resilience to contract with an administrative facilitator to provide the working group with necessary support.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of Health, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, The Judiciary, Office of Wellness and Resilience, Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!, Commit to Keiki, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaii, and Early Childhood Action Strategy.

Your Committee finds that peer support specialists assist patients with rebuilding a sense of control and empowerment by utilizing strengths-based approaches that emphasize physical, psychological, and emotional safety. Your Committee further finds that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recognize that the experiences of peer support specialists, can be an important component in the delivery of effective mental and behavioral health treatment. Additionally, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration identifies peer support as one of the six guiding principles of trauma-informed care. Your Committee also finds that peer support specialists provide benefits to a variety of individuals, including those who are experiencing homelessness, involved in the child welfare system, and survivors of disasters. The recommendations from the working group established pursuant to this measure will allow the State to make an informed decision on establishing a framework for peer support specialists in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the chairperson may invite as members of the working group, two caregivers with lived experience as the caregiver of a child or youth in behavioral health, child welfare, or the juvenile justice systems;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, does not include in the working group, a member from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Your Committee finds that the inclusion of the Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation in the working group merits further consideration and respectfully requests further examination by subsequent committees to which this measure is referred.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3094, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3094, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Operations,

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ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair