STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3178

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2314

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2314, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL SYSTEMS OF CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to modernize Hawaii's emergency medical services laws to align with current best practices.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, State Health Planning and Development Agency, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency, University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges, and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that the State's existing emergency medical services (EMS) laws were designed for an earlier era and do not reflect the complexities of modern time-sensitive emergency medical systems of care. Your Committee further finds that updating the State's EMS statutes to reflect a true systems-of-care model will improve coordination, standardization, and accountability across emergency response partners and better position the State to respond to everyday emergencies as well as disasters and mass casualty events. This measure strengthens statewide coordination, communications interoperability, air-medical integration, and data-driven quality improvement to support more equitable access to emergency care across all islands.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to amend section 321-224.4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the community paramedicine program, to:

(A) Include mobile integrated health care into the program;

(B) Expand the entities with which the Department of Health is to explore and develop partnerships to include community colleges, colleges, universities, and professional organizations;

(C) Clarify the employment of telehealth to enhance access and improve the patient experience; and

(D) Extend the sunset date for interim rules adopted by the Department of Health from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2029; and

(2) 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 H.B. No. 2314, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2314, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair