STAND. COM. REP. NO.879

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 720

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 720, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION BY PUBLIC ENTITIES TOWARDS INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to State and county services, programs, and activities.

The Office of the Lieutenant Governor, State Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities, Disability and Communications Access Board, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Mental Health Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Centers for Independent Living, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Aloha State Association of the Deaf, and private citizens submitted testimony in support of this measure.

The Department of the Attorney General (AG) testified in support of this measure with amendments. The AG noted that a clause was mistakenly deleted from the original bill that clarified that disabled persons may not be excluded from service, programs, or activities by reason of their disability, but not under all circumstance. Without the limiting clause, this bill would be too broad and provide greater rights than those under the ADA.

In 1990, the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provided equal access to public facilities and programs to persons with disabilities. Hawaii followed suit with a similar state law.

However, your Committee understands that the ADA recently suffered a major setback when the United States Supreme Court ruled in Garrett vs. Alabama that a state could not be sued by an employee under the ADA. This ruling sets a precedence for future challenges to the ADA, especially to Title II, that deals with the accessibility of persons with disabilities to state and county programs, services, and facilities.

Your Committee finds that this measure will protect the rights of Hawaii's disabled community regardless of what happens to the ADA on the federal level.

As recommended by the AG, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Reinstating the limiting clause language; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 720, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 720, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair