STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 305-26
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2026
RE: H.B. No. 1731
H.D. 1
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2026
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committees on Health and Human Services & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 1731 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY CARE FOSTER FAMILY HOMES,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The
purpose of this measure is to clarify
that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who meet an
intermediate care facility or nursing facility level of care shall not be
denied residency in a licensed community care foster family home solely because
of their disability or enrollment in a specific Medicaid waiver program.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure
from the Hawaiʻi State Council on Developmental
Disabilities; Disability and Communication Access Board; Hawaii Disability
Rights Center; Arc of Maui County; Responsive Caregivers of Hawaii; Hawaii Self‑Advocacy
Advisory Council; and eight individuals.
Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of
Health; Department of Human Services; and one individual.
Your Committees find
that community care foster family homes provide a vital service to individuals
who need twenty-four-hour support by allowing these individuals to receive that
support in a home-like setting. Your
Committees further find that because of uncertainty in existing law and
administrative rules, it is unclear if individuals with intellectual and
developmental disabilities who qualify for the Medicaid Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities Home and Community Based Services waiver (HCBS I/DD
waiver) may live in community care foster family homes without losing access to
their waiver services. As a result of
this uncertainty, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
who wish to reside in community care foster family home must first disenroll
from the HCBS I/DD waiver and transition to the Medicaid Section 1115 waiver, a
process that often disrupts continuity of care and may result in the loss of
essential, individualized services. This
measure is intended to reduce systemic barriers and allow individuals to choose
where they wish to live by clarifying that waiver status does not disqualify an
individual from living in a community care foster family home.
Your
Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000,
to encourage further discussion; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services & Homelessness that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1731, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1731, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services & Homelessness,
|
____________________________ LISA MARTEN, Chair |
|
____________________________ GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair |