Report Title:

Appropriation; State-Owned Aircraft

Description:

Appropriates $1,900,000 for the department of transportation to purchase an aircraft to be used for aeromedical emergency services. Requires the department to adopt rules concerning the use and maintenance of the aircraft. (HB3081 HD1)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

3081

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

making an appropriation for a state-owned aircraft.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the United States Army's 68th Medical Company's Medical Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MEDEVAC) helicopter has served Hawaii for the past thirty-one years. The MEDEVAC helicopter has transported over seven thousand patients and saved countless lives by transporting patients from rural areas, particularly in West Oahu and the North Shore of Oahu to tertiary hospitals. Located at Wheeler Army Air Field, the MEDEVAC helicopter provides a vital service at no cost to rural Oahu.

However, the legislature also finds that due to the increased military activity in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Iraq, the MEDEVAC helicopter may soon be deployed to those areas, leaving rural Oahu residents without aeromedical services. The legislature believes that providing intra-island aeromedical services to rural Oahu is necessary for the health and safety of residents and therefore is a matter of statewide concern.

It is not the intent of this Act to supplant existing ground or fixed-wing transport, especially for routine or non-emergency inter-facility transportation. The aeromedical helicopter unit would use triage protocols to ensure the medically appropriate dispatch of the unit. Helicopter use would be based on national aeromedical triage and transport guidelines as established by the Association of Air Medical Services, the American College of Surgeons, and the National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to provide intra-island only aeromedical services to rural Oahu.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,900,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007 for the purchase of an intra-island only roto-wing aeromedical services aircraft for rural Oahu; provided that the emergency aeromedical helicopter services:

(1) Shall not supplant existing ground or fixed-wing transport, especially for routine or non-emergency inter-facility transportation; and

(2) Shall use triage protocols that are based on national aeromedical, triage, and transport guidelines established by the Association of Air Medical Services, the American College of Surgeons, and the National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of transportation for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. Within six months of purchase of the aircraft, the department of transportation shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the use and maintenance of the aircraft.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2006.