STAND. COM. REP. NO. 344-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1574

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1574 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HEALTHCARE EDUCATION LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish minimum service duration requirements based on the total amount of loan repayment assistance received for participants in the Healthcare Education Loan Repayment program who receive new awards on or after July 1, 2027.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Governor; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; State Health Planning and Development Agency; University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine; Hawaiʻi State Center for Nursing; Hawaii Medical Association; Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii; The Queen's Health Systems; Hawaiʻi Pacific Health; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Association of Professional Nurses; Hawaii Medical Service Association; Hawaiʻi Affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives; Kaiser Permanent Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Dental Association; Hawaiʻi-American Nurses Association; Navian Hawaii; and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that one of the factors exacerbating Hawaii's ongoing health care workforce shortages is financial hardship, with the State's high cost of living frequently driving health care providers to leave the State. Your Committee further finds that in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 the Legislature appropriated funds for the Healthcare Education Loan Repayment program, which helps health care professionals in most fields of practice in Hawaii repay their educational loans in exchange for providing health care services in the State. Your Committee believes that this program has significantly improved the lives of health care professionals in the State and made it easier for these professionals to remain and practice in Hawaii. This measure implements a sliding scale of work commitments based on the loan repayment assistance participants receive to promote continuity of care and ensure providers who receive assistance with their health care education fulfill their commitments to the State in a fair and equitable fashion.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the definition of "healthcare professional" to include dentists;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1574, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1574, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair