STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2394

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2898

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2898 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DIVERSION PROGRAM FOR CHEMICALLY DEPENDANT NURSES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to update and modify the Diversion Program for Chemically Dependent Nurses to allow the Board of Nursing to permit entities besides the Hawaii Nurses Association to provide services for the diversion program, to update reporting and data bank maintenance provisions to reflect current practices and federal law, and to permit disciplinary action against a nurse who is noncompliant with the diversion program.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 125, AFL-CIO, the Hawaii Society of Addiction Medicine, and three individuals.  Testimony in support of the intent of this measure with amendments was received from the Board of Nursing.  Testimony commenting on this measure was received from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Regulated Industries Complaints Office.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that this measure provides the Board of Nursing with more flexibility when assigning a professional association or other entity to administer and monitor the diversion program.  Your Committees further find that it is in the interest of public health and safety to permit disciplinary action to be taken against a chemically dependent nurse who is noncompliant with the recommendations and requirements of the diversion program.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Expanding the functions of the diversion program to include assessment in addition to addressing rehabilitation, where appropriate;

 

     (2)  Narrowing the exclusion from disciplinary action for nurses compliant with the diversion program to offenses relevant to chemical dependency;

 

     (3)  Providing that records of a nurse participating in a diversion program shall be privileged and excluded from discovery or subpoena by persons or entities other than the Board of Nursing the or the Regulated Industries Complaint Office; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes to ensure clarity and accuracy in the language of this measure.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2898, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2898, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair