STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1093-08

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

 

RE:   S.B. No. 2151

      S.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services & Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2151, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to expand the long-term care ombudsman program by adding three county ombudsman positions and by appropriating funds for those positions.

 

     Specifically, this measure establishes one local ombudsman position in each of the counties of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai within the Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman to work under the supervision of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman in achieving the goals of the program as mandated by the United States Administration on Aging through the Older Americans Act.  The measure also clarifies that the state Long-Term Care Ombudsman, with the approval of the Executive Office on Aging, appoints the three local long-term care ombudsmen.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, National Association of Social Workers, Hawaii Alliance for Retired Americans, Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, the Kokua Council, and two hundred twenty individuals.  The Executive Office on Aging offered comments.

 

     Your Committees find that this bill, by providing three local, county-based long-term care ombudsmen on the neighbor islands, will help to ensure that the needs of long-term care residents of those counties are met with the same regular and timely access to services that is currently provided by the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman based on Oahu.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services & Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2151, S.D. 2, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

 

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

 

 

____________________________

MAILE SHIMABUKURO, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair