STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2117

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 343

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 S.B. No. 343 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish provisional or associate-level licensure requirements for marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and psychologists and authorize insurance reimbursements in certain circumstances;

(2) Allow psychologist license applicants to sit for the licensing examination before completing certain other requirements;

(3) Allow the Board of Psychology to grant licensure waivers in certain circumstances for psychologists; and

(4) Authorize insurance reimbursements for services provided by a supervised social work intern in certain circumstances.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Hawaiʻi Psychological Association; The Hawaiian Islands Association for Marriage and Family Therapy; National Association of Social Workers - Hawaiʻi; Pau Hana Counseling, LLC; Pilina Center for Wellbeing; The Catalyst Group, LLC; Samaritan Counseling Center Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Counselors Association; Behavior Analysis No Ka Oi, Inc; Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center; Residential Youth Services & Empowerment; Collective Current; Center for Healing & Transformation; Fujimoto Counseling Services, LLC; Oahu Psychological Services; Trauma Healing Hawaii Brighter Board; and seventy-five individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Health, and Board of Psychology.

Your Committee finds that there is a clear workforce shortage of mental health providers in the State. For the State to achieve behavioral health equity, more effective systems and policies are needed to address this workforce shortage to ensure proper implementation of this measure.

Your Committee notes the testimony of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs requesting the following appropriations to ensure proper implementation of this measure:

(1) $73,406 to establish, recruit, and hire an office assistant V to process provisional license applications; and

(2) $75,000 to make appropriate updates to the Department's internal database for the new license types and associated requirements.

Therefore, your Committee requests that subsequent committees to which this measure is referred consider inserting an appropriation amount of $148,406 for fiscal year 2024-2025 for proper implementation of this measure. Your Committee further notes the Department's request to delay the implementation of this measure until January 1, 2026.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language declaring that the general fund expenditure ceiling for fiscal year 2024-2025 has been exceeded;

(2) Inserting an appropriation for an unspecified amount of general funds to be expended by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to ensure proper implementation of this measure;

(3) Making parts II, III, IV, and V of the measure take effect on July 1, 2026; and

(4) 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 S.B. No. 343, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 343, 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 Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair