STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1485_______

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.C.R. No. 190
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing, to
which was referred H.C.R. No. 190 entitled: 

     "HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING A COMPREHENSIVE
     REVIEW OF CHILD PROTECTION LAWS IN HAWAII,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution, as received, is
to urge the Hawaii Appleseed Public Interest Law Center to
continue its comprehensive review of Hawaii's laws relating to
child protection.

     The Department of Human Services and the Hawaii State Foster
Parent Association testified in support of the intent of this
measure.

     Your Committees find that this measure is duplicative of a
similar concurrent resolution, H.C.R. No. 179, which passed out
of your Committee on Human Services and Housing.  Your Committees
believe, therefore, that this measure is unnecessary but can be
used as a vehicle to address another critical issue.

     The Hawaii State Hospital will discontinue its outpatient
and related services of the Neuropsychology Department effective
March 31, 1999.  This is one of the very few affordable services
that are available to persons with special needs, among them the
brain-injured population.  Those patients currently being served,
along with those on the waiting list, will have no place to go
once these services are discontinued.

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1485_______
                                 Page 2

 
     While the Department of Health (DOH) has attempted to help
these patients make the transition into the community, DOH has
only provided a list of neuropsychologists to patients.  None of
the listed neuropsychologists provide the neuro-training and
cognitive rehabilitation services offered by the State's
Neuropsychology Department.

     Your Committees believe that an emergency situation exists.
Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by deleting
its substance and replacing it with language urging DOH to extend
its services of the Neuropsychology Department until appropriate
and adequate alternatives are found.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Health and Human Services and Housing that are
attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent
and purpose of H.C.R. No. 190, as amended herein, and recommend
that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form
attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 190, H.D. 1.

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

                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
DENNIS ARAKAKI, Chair              ALEXANDER C. SANTIAGO, Chair