STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1518

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    GOV. MSG. NOS. 329, 340

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred Governor's Message Nos. 329 and 340, submitting for study and consideration the nominations of: 

 

Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Oahu Service Area Board

 

G.M. No. 329

THOMAS J. MCCORMACK,

for a term to expire 6-30-2013; and

 

G.M. No. 340

LINDA H. SHEA,

for a term to expire 6-30-2011,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Upon review of the statements submitted by the nominees, your Committee finds that the aforementioned nominees will work with compassion and commitment to assist in administering the functions related to mental health and substance abuse for the people of Hawaii.  Your Committee further finds that the nominees have been appointed based on their credentials, integrity, and a desire to make Hawaii better through their participation on the Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Oahu Service Area Board to which they have been nominated.

 

     Your Committee received testimony supporting the nomination of each of these individuals from the Department of Health.  Additional testimony was submitted supporting the nomination of Thomas J. McCormack from two individuals.

 

     Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

Mr. Thomas McCormack has been a mental health advocate for many years.  He served on the Oahu Service Area Board on Mental Health from 2000 to 2004, and is being recommended for a second term.  Mr. McCormack's constituency relates to his active, ongoing membership in the Honolulu Clubhouse.  Mr. McCormack received his Bachelor's degree from Boston University and the University of Massachusetts in 1977.  He completed one year of graduate school at Brown University where he was nominated for the prestigious Untermeyer Fellowship in Poetry.  Mr. McCormack volunteered as a legislative advocate with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.  Mr. Thomas McCormack fulfills a consumer representative position on the Board.

 

Ms. Linda H. Shea has been employed as a Mental Health Peer Specialist with Community Empowerment Services for the last two years.  She has worked with the Department of Education's Parent -Community Networking Centers as a State and District Facilitator and Trainer and as a preschool teacher for Kama'aina Kids.  Ms. Shea was mentioned in Governor Waihee's 1990 State of the Union address due to her work with latch-key children and the  need to fund the "A Plus" program.  She was also the first woman to hold the Office of President of Oxford Houses, Inc. for the Windward District in 1996.  Ms. Linda H. Shea fulfills a consumer representative position on the Board.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that are attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominees, has found the nominees to be qualified for the positions to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nominations.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair