STAND. COM. REP. NO.  368

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1439

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1439 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REPORTING DEATHS TO STATE AGENCIES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to assist state agencies in maintaining the accuracy of their records by requiring the Department of Health (DOH) to provide, upon the state agency's request, the list of names of all persons whose deaths have been recorded by DOH for a particular period; provided that the state agency maintains official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency's activities and is prohibited by federal law from sharing information from the lists.

 

     DOH, the Office of Information Management and Technology, and the Department of the Attorney General supported this measure.  The Department of Human Services supported the intent of this measure.

 

     Your Committee notes the comments expressed by the Office of Information Management and Technology regarding the need for modernizing the Vital Statistics System for death records and establishing an interim fee structure for information-sharing, with a sunset date until such time that a preferred funding source is identified and/or federal grants become available.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, 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 H.B. No. 1439, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1439, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair