STAND. COM. REP. 3300

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.C.R. No. 79

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 79 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE HAWAII STATE COUNCIL ON DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO IDENTIFY ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS REGARDING INDIVIDUALS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AND THEIR CHOICE OF RESIDENTIAL SETTING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request of the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities to convene a task force to identify issues and solutions regarding individuals with developmental disabilities and their choice of residential setting.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Department of Human Services, Department of Health, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, The Arc of Kauai, and two individuals.

Your Committees find that individual choice and preference is especially important to individuals with developmental disabilities so they may have a say in the kind of services and support they receive, including residential settings. Some residential homes are unlicensed, but provide a safe and healthy environment for individuals with developmental disabilities. An individual's choice to remain in that setting is based on the comfort and safety the individual experiences there, and the lack of licensure does not detract from that.

Your Committees further find, however, that current rules and regulations prevent an individual with developmental disabilities from residing in a home that is unlicensed. An individual with developmental disabilities should not be required to move and be displaced due to factors beyond his or her control, if it is not his or her choice to do so.

Your Committees have amended this measure by incorporating language provided by the Council on Developmental Disabilities that would:

(1) Address individual choice and self-determination for individuals with developmental disabilities by increasing residential options, including use of unlicensed homes; and

(2) Revise statutes, administrative rules, policies, and directives that would allow unlicensed homes as a residential option if they provide a safe and healthy environment.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 79, as amended herein, recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 79, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services,

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SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair