STAND. COM. REP. NO. 14

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 20

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 20 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD CARE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require operators of child care facilities that care for children one year of age or younger to implement and maintain safe sleep policies to prevent sudden unexpected infant deaths and sudden infant death syndrome in accordance with rules adopted by the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children, Hawaii Children's Action Network, and fifty individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee finds that sudden unexpected infant death is a broad term that refers to the sudden death of an infant less than one year of age where the specific cause of death is not immediately obvious prior to investigation.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4,500 sudden unexpected infant deaths occur in the United States every year.  Your Committee further finds that sudden infant death syndrome, the sudden death of an infant less than one year of age where the death cannot be explained even after a thorough investigation is conducted, accounts for half of the sudden unexpected infant deaths that occur in the United States every year and is the leading cause of death among infants one year of age or younger.

 

     Your Committee further finds that sudden unexpected infant deaths and sudden infant death syndrome are preventable through safe sleep policies that address causes of death that are associated with sudden unexpected infant deaths and sudden infant death syndrome.  However, the State does not regulate the proper sleep positions of infants and toddlers under the care of child care centers or family care homes.

 

     Your Committee on Human Services notes that the Department of Human Services will be conducting a public hearing on February 6, 2017, to hear proposed amendments to administrative rules for registered family child care homes and licensed infant and toddler child care centers.  The proposed amendments seek to improve safety and care by accommodating any changes to best practices and standards of care that may occur related to sleep-related deaths in infants.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 20 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

 

 

 

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair