STAND. COM. REP. NO. 504

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1855

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1855 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANATOMICAL GIFTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to make an appropriation for the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii to increase the number of individuals consenting to organ and tissue donation by expanding and promoting public education and awareness programs on organ, tissue, and eye donations, including the minority organ tissue transplant education program.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii; Surgical Associates, Inc.; Filipino Nurses' Organization of Hawaii; Philippine Nurses Association-Hawaii; San Manuel Pangasinan Association of Hawaii; Nursing Advocates & Mentors, Inc.; Chinese General Hospital Nursing Alumni Association International; Congress of Visayan Organizations; Hawaii Living Donor Council; Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness Research and Training; Oahu Filipino Community Council; and Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program.  Comments were received from the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committee finds that there is a critical shortage of organ and tissue donors in the State.  Many patients are on waiting lists for kidney, liver, heart, lung, and other organ and tissue transplants.  The number of people requiring a life-saving transplant continues to rise faster than the number of available donors, especially among minority ethnic groups.  As of January 5, 2007, there were more than ninety-four thousand patients awaiting transplants on the national waiting list.  Every thirteen minutes, a new name is added to the waiting list and every day, an average of seventeen patients die while waiting.

 

     In Hawaii, there are three hundred seventy eight patients waiting and for the past five years, an average of nineteen patients have died while waiting for a second chance at life.  For various reasons, minority ethnic groups appear to be at increased risk of suffering illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure that can lead to organ failure, resulting in the need for organ transplants.  The success rate of organ transplants is often improved when the donor and the recipient are of the same ethnic or racial group.  Therefore, a shortage of organ donors among certain minority ethnic groups may disproportionately impact patients belonging to that minority ethnic group.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting the amount appropriated to ensure further disucssion, but your Committee recommends to the Committee on Ways and Means that the original funding in this measure of $175,000 be restored.  Technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style were also made.

 

     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. 1855, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1855, 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,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair