STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2198

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 847

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 S.B. No. 847 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PSYCHOLOGISTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow qualified psychologists limited authority to prescribe psychotropic medications to patients under the care of the psychologist in certain circumstances.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Health Planning and Development Agency, Mayor of the County of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi Mental Health Coalition, iNetMedRx2, Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi, and forty-eight individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaiʻi Psychiatric Medical Association, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaiʻi Association of Professional Nurses, Hawaii Council on Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychiatric Association, and twenty-nine individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Board of Psychology and one individual.

Your Committee finds that there is limited access to mental health care treatment services for residents across the State. Your Committee further finds that the delivery of comprehensive, accessible, and affordable mental health care has been demonstrably enhanced by collaborative practice among licensed clinical psychologists with prescriptive authority and medical doctors in federal facilities and programs and in states that have authorized prescriptive authority for psychologists. This measure seeks to expand the State's mental health workforce capacity and improve timely access to needed care for underserved communities.

Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised in testimony in opposition to this measure that psychologists do not have the commensurate education or training of psychiatrists, which suggests a potential increase in medical malpractice by authorizing psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications. Your Committee notes that this measure contains substantial protections, including required collaboration with doctors of medicine to mitigate medical malpractice risks. Your Committee further notes that the experiences of many other states, including Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico, have demonstrated that appropriately trained clinical psychologists can prescribe psychotropic medications safely and effectively, and that there has been limited to no signs of widespread increases in medical malpractice claims.

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 Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 847, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 847, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair