STAND. COM. REP. NO. 121

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 782

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 782 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION FOR EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation for additional funds from the Early Intervention Special Fund for the Family Health Services Division for early intervention services for infants and children from birth to three years of age.

The Department of Health, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Hawaii Early Intervention Coordinating Council, Good Beginnings Alliance, and the American Academy of Pediatrics submitted testimony in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Health has the responsibility to ensure that all children age 0 to 3 years with a developmental delay or biological/environmental risk and their families receive early intervention services as mandated under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, state laws, Hawaii Early Intervention State Plan, and the Stipulation for Step-Down and Termination of the Revised Consent Decree between the State and the plaintiff class. The current fiscal year 2005 appropriation for early intervention services is not sufficient to meet the existing need.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 782, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 782, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair