STAND. COM. REP. NO.1016

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 1529

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1529 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DEPENDENT ADULTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to require any family or household member who knows or has reason to believe that an adult is:

(1) Unable to obtain medical treatment or care due to mental or physical impairment;

(2) In need of such treatment or care; and

(3) In imminent risk of death or serious bodily injury,

to promptly report the matter to the police or Department of Human Services (DHS).

The Honolulu Police Department supported the measure. The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu supported the measure with amendments. The Executive Office on Aging and DHS supported the intent of this measure. The Christian Science Committee on Publication for Hawaii submitted comments.

 

Your Committees recognize the growing concern of frail and elderly adults being neglected and abused. There have been cases where a household or family member failed to report or assist a suffering adult. In some cases, the neglected adults, unable to care for themselves, died. Law enforcement officials are sometimes unable to prosecute due to a loophole in the statute.

While your Committees support this bill with the amendments proposed by the Prosecuting Attorney, your Committee would like to note that sensitivity should be shown in situations where family members who may be suffering a terminal illness or who are near death express the wish that they be left unassisted.

Your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1) Clarifying that a family or household member should also seek medical treatment or care for the person who is unable to obtain appropriate care; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1529, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1529, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair

____________________________

MICHAEL P. KAHIKINA, Chair