STAND. COM. REP. NO. 702

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1139

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1139, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII HOME VISITING PROGRAM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote healthy child development and strengthen families.

 

More specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Establishes a program within the Department of Health for screening and home visiting services for families of newborns; and

 

     (2)  Appropriates funds to the Department of Health to administer the program.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Early Learning, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Child & Family Service, Hawaii Family Support Institute, and three individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that home visiting programs are a prevention strategy used by states and communities to improve the health and well-being of women, children, and families at risk for adverse health and safety concerns.  Your Committee also finds that early investments in home visiting programs have been shown to reduce costs associated with foster care placements, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, unintended pregnancies, and other more costly outcomes and interventions.  Your Committee notes that this measure will position the Department of Health to participate in the Social Security Act's Title V grant program for maternal and child welfare and thereby improve the health and safety of eligible families.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the program provide proactive, universal screening of newborns' families rather than of all births;

 

     (2)  Providing that the program consider as a high priority those families at risk for poor health outcomes, child abuse, or neglect;

 

     (3)  Changing the amount of the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

 

     (4)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

     (5)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of consistency, clarity, 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. 1139, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1139, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair