REPORT TITLE:
Relating to Developmental
Disabilities


DESCRIPTION:
Makes an appropriation to match federal funds for medicaid for
home- and community-based care for persons with developmental
disabilities. (SB2040 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2040
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that individuals with
 
 2 developmental disabilities require lifelong support and services.
 
 3 The best treatment for these individuals is to allow them to be
 
 4 independent, productive, integrated, and included in the
 
 5 community.  Act 189, Session Laws of Hawaii 1995, was intended to
 
 6 help individuals residing at Waimano training school and hospital
 
 7 make the transition into the community by mandating that all
 
 8 programs and services for these individuals be provided for in
 
 9 the community.  Act 189, Session Laws of Hawaii 1995, also
 
10 required the department of health to maximize state funds for
 
11 community services, using these funds as a match for title XIX
 
12 federal programs, other governmental programs, and privately
 
13 financed programs.
 
14      The legislature further finds that a medicaid waiver program
 
15 under section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act was designed to
 
16 allow states to provide long-term care, support, and services in
 
17 the community by using at least fifty per cent of federal dollars
 
18 for individuals who would otherwise be institutionalized.  The
 
19 medicaid home- and community-based services waiver program
 
20 provides an array of services such as adult day health, personal
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        H.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1 assistance, environmental accessibility adaptations,
 
 2 habilitation, supported employment, respite care, skilled
 
 3 nursing, and specialized services designed to support the
 
 4 individual's ability to live in the community.
 
 5      The departments of health and human services implemented a
 
 6 home- and community-based services waiver program in 1983.  There
 
 7 are eight hundred individuals who may be eligible for the home-
 
 8 and community-based services waiver program and who may need
 
 9 services and support to enable them to live in the community.
 
10 Over seven hundred of these individuals are on a wait list for
 
11 services.
 
12      The legislature further finds that the home- and community-
 
13 based waiver program impacts on the economic well-being of the
 
14 State due to the labor intensive nature of the program.
 
15 Increased funding for the program will significantly increase the
 
16 number of individuals to be employed in the program, which will
 
17 be helped by using matching federal dollars.
 
18      The legislature is concerned that recent statistics indicate
 
19 that Hawaii ranks forty-seventh in its level of funding for
 
20 community services, and fiftieth in its total funding effort for
 
21 mental retardation and developmental disabilities services.
 
22 Furthermore, the home- and community-based services waiver
 
23 program is underfunded, which causes the State to use state
 
24 dollars and to miss the opportunity to maximize federal dollars.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        H.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1      The purpose of this Act is to appropriate state funds as
 
 2 matching federal funds to serve individuals with developmental
 
 3 disabilities, including individuals on the statewide wait list in
 
 4 fiscal year 2000 in the title XIX medicaid home- and community-
 
 5 based services waiver program.
 
 6      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
 7 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        or so much
 
 8 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 to serve as
 
 9 the State's share of matching federal title XIX medicaid funds
 
10 for individuals with developmental disabilities who are eligible
 
11 for the home- and community-based services program under
 
12 medicaid; provided that the sum appropriated shall be transferred
 
13 to the department of human services through an interdepartmental
 
14 transfer from the department of health to serve as the state
 
15 match for federal title XIX Medicaid funds.
 
16      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
17 department of human services for the purposes of this Act.
 
18      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.