STAND. COM. REP. NO. 48-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1976

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. 1976 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DEMENTIA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require annual dementia-specific training for all first responders in Hawaii.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; AARP Hawaiʻi; Alzheimer's Association-Hawaii; Hawaii Primary Care Association; Hawaii Parkinson Association; Hear 4 Hope; Hawaii Alliance for Retired Americans; Alzheimer's Caregiving & the Caregivers; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency.

Your Committee finds that approximately 31,200 Hawaii residents aged sixty-five years or older currently live with Alzheimer's disease, and that long-term trends suggest that this figure could double to approximately sixty-two thousand individuals by 2050. Your Committee further finds that six in ten people living with dementia will wander and may forget their name or address or become disoriented even in familiar places, leading them to exhibit anxiety, fear, or hostility. Your Committee believes that it is vital to provide police, emergency medical services, and fire department personnel, who are frequently the first responders who encounter wandering individuals or respond to dementia-related incidents, with dementia-specific training to enable them to appropriately manage these situations so that persons with dementia can safely and effectively be rescued, even if they are uncooperative or disoriented.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the date by which dementia-specific training must be offered to first responders from January 1, 2027, to July 1, 2027, and the date by which the first annual training cycle must be completed to June 30, 2028, instead of December 31, 2027;

(2) Amending the responsibilities of the Executive Office on Aging relating to curriculum review and training options based on cost;

(3) Clarifying that the dementia-specific training may include certain components, rather than requiring the inclusion of these components;

(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.

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. 1976, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1976, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Public Safety.

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

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair