STAND. COM. REP. NO. 47-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1804

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. 1804 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LONG-TERM CARE FINANCING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a joint legislative commission to examine the feasibility of different public and private financing options to pay for long-term care services and supports and determine which long-term care financing mechanisms have objective, evidence-based merit.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Department of Health; Executive Office on Aging; State Health Planning and Development Agency; AARP Hawaiʻi; Leading Age Pacific West; Healthcare Association of Hawaii; Hawaii Alliance for Retired Americans; and seven individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii's senior population is growing faster than the national average. Your Committee further finds that without a sustainable financing framework for long-term care, Hawaii's families will be forced to shoulder increasing unsustainable financial burdens and the State will begin to face escalating fiscal pressures. This measure is intended to address Hawaii's long-term care costs and ensure long-term care services remain equitable and available to all of Hawaii's residents by advancing a comprehensive, data-driven evaluation of feasible financing strategies for long-term care.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding one representative of a long-term care provider as a person to be invited as a voting member on the commission;

(2) Requiring the Office of the Auditor, rather than the Legislative Reference Bureau, to provide administrative support to, and procure consulting services for, the Long-Term Care Financing Commission;

(3) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

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

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

Your Committee respectfully requests that your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider a total appropriation amount of $100,000, with $60,000 for one part-time project director and $40,000 for staffing and administrative costs.

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. 1804, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1804, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Legislative Management.

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

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair