STAND. COM. REP. NO.820

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1367

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1367, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII HEALTH SYSTEMS CORPORATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation to develop procedures to obtain verifiable criminal history information for job applicants in any health facility of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

Specifically, the bill:

(1) Specifies that the procedures shall include a criminal history record check of state and federal records;

(2) Authorizes the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation to refuse to employ an applicant convicted of an offense for which incarceration is a sentencing option if the corporation finds the convicted person has not been rehabilitated and poses a risk to the well-being of the health facility's patients or the health facility's qualification for the federal health care insurance program;

(3) An applicant may be refused only after:

(A) Appropriate investigation to determine whether the applicant has been sufficiently rehabilitated to warrant public trust;

(B) Notification of results of investigation and action planned; and

(C) Being given an opportunity to rebut the investigation's findings;

(4) Defines "criminal history record check" to mean a fingerprint search of files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a check through files maintained by the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center; and

(5) Appropriates funds out of the state criminal history record improvement revolving fund for criminal history record checks of job applicants.

Your Committee finds that criminal history record checks can be an effective tool for protecting our most vulnerable populations, including patients at health facilities of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. In seeking to protect patients, the measure also protects the rights of a convicted individual by providing that employment may be refused only after an investigation to determine whether the applicants has been sufficiently rehabilitated and given an opportunity to rebut findings of the investigation.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has made technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and uniformity.

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. 1367, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1367, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair