STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1632

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.R. No. 60

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Transportation and Government Operations, to which was referred S.R. No. 60 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR, THE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH, AND THE DIRECTOR OF CIVIL DEFENSE TO PREPARE FOR A POSSIBLE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to prepare for a possible influenza pandemic.

The Department of Health submitted testimony in support of this measure.

According to the Department of Health, the impact of an influenza pandemic will be severe and could effect such areas as the labor force and the civil defense. Influenza pandemics occur when a virulent new strain of influenza, for which there is no vaccine and no human resistance, appears suddenly. The Department has already started formulating a plan to prepare for such a crisis in cooperation with the Healthcare Association of Hawaii and military public health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other states offer guidance and varied perspectives and approaches. This measure calls on the Governor, the Director of Health, and the Director of Civil Defense to prepare for a possible influenza pandemic.

Your Committees have amended this measure by adding the Dean of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as recipients of courtesy certified copies of this measure.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Transportation and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 60, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 60, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Transportation and Government Operations,

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair