STAND. COM. REP. NO. 657

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1109

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1109, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOSPITAL STANDARDS FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure that victims of sexual assault are provided information about and access to emergency contraception when receiving emergency medical care for sexual assault.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu; Community Alliance on Prisons; IMUAlliance; The Sex Abuse Treatment Center; Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that, according to a report prepared by the Department of the Attorney General, there were three hundred fifty-three reported cases of forcible rape in Hawaii in 2011.  Further, according to the United States Department of Justice, over half of all rapes are not reported to the police.  There are an estimated thirty-two thousand rape-related pregnancies every year in the United States.

 

     Your Committee also finds that the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have stated that sexual assault victims should be informed about and provided emergency contraception.  However, a 2010 survey of emergency facilities in Hawaii revealed a lack of clear policy on the issue.  Your Committee further finds that this measure establishes statewide hospital standards to ensure that hospital emergency rooms provide female sexual assault victims with information about and access to emergency contraception.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

     (2)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1109, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1109, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair