STAND. COM. REP. NO.  712

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   H.B. No. 153

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 153 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure that residents of the Waianae Coast of Oahu receive appropriate medical care by appropriating funds to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC) for emergency services.

 

     WCCHC and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs testified in support of this bill.  The Department of the Attorney General offered comments.

 

     Your Committee finds that since 1976, the State has provided annual subsidies to operate WCCHC's emergency room, one of the most heavily used facilities of its kind on Oahu.

 

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the appropriation is a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, 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 H.B. No. 153, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 153, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair