STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1040

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 464

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 464, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Health for the purchase of one ambulance vehicle and operational costs for one ambulance unit to service the area of Kakaako in the City and County of Honolulu.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, Emergency Medical Service Division; United Public Workers, AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO; and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

 

     Your Committee finds that the population of the area of Kakaako in the City and County of Honolulu has recently undergone a dramatic increase in population.  Correspondingly, there has been a steady and marked increase of calls for emergency medical services in the Kakaako area.  According to testimony received by your Committee, the total call volume for the Emergency Medical Service Division of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department has increased eighteen percent over the last four years.  Over half of the total call volume for the Emergency Medical Service Division is run by seven units, primarily in the urban Honolulu area.  This measure appropriates funds for an additional ambulance unit for the rapidly growing Kakaako area, which will allow for a more even distribution of call coverage and decrease overall response time for emergency medical services.

 

     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. 464, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair