STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3022

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3134

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 3134, S.D. 1, 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 the State's emergency medical services statutes 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, and University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that the State's existing emergency medical services (EMS) statutes were developed decades ago and reflect emergency medical services practices and system structures that largely date back to the late 1980s, when EMS was primarily viewed as a means of transporting patients to the hospital. Since that time, the role of EMS has evolved significantly. Your Committee further finds that EMS is now an integrated and essential component of the health care and public health system, providing out-of-hospital, community-based care that includes assessment, treatment, stabilization, telehealth-supported services, and coordination of care, in addition to acute medical response and patient transport. This measure is a critical step forward in updating the State's statutory framework to better reflect present-day emergency medical services practice and the evolving public health role of modern emergency medical systems of care.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3134, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3134, S.D. 2.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair