STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2765

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2151

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2151, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

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

 

begs 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.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, National Association of Social Workers, Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, and the Kokua Council.  The Executive Office on Aging and the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman offered comments.

 

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Adding five sections to the measure to make amendments to various provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statutes to conform to the change in the title of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman to the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman;

 

(2)  Adding a provision for the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, with the approval of the Executive Office on Aging, to appoint the three local long-term care ombudsmen;

 

(3)  Making a conforming amendment to section 349‑22(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to repeal of the requirement that written consent of the resident or the resident's representative is required to disclose resident records;

 

(4)  Correcting language in the measure that differed from the printed version of the Hawaii Revised Statutes;

 

(5)  Adding a requirement to provide contact information for local long-term care ombudsmen to long-term care facilities; and

 

(6)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2151, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2151, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair