STAND. COM. REP. NO. 108

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 749
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 749
entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DIETITIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to establish a licensing program
for dietitians that:

     (1)  Restricts the use of the title "licensed dietitian" to
          those who meet with specified educational practical,
          and other qualifications; and

     (2)  Empowers the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
          to discipline licensed dietitians for cause.

     Your Committee received voluminous testimony in strong
support of this measure from persons representing the full range
of health care professionals working on Oahu and the neighbor
islands, including doctors, nurses, dietitians, health care
administrators, and medical researcher/professors.  Four
nutrition scientists and clinical nutritionists submitted
testimony in opposition.

     Your Committee believes that this bill will protect the
public health and enhance the welfare of the community by
ensuring that the public receives safe, effective dietetic care,
by adding to public confidence in dietitians, and by increasing
the credibility and expertise of licensed dietitians practicing

 
 
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in the State.  The following amendments suggested by proponents
of the bill have been incorporated into the measure by your
Committee:

     (1)  Restrict the title regulated under this Act to that of
          "licensed dietitian", by substituting "licensed
          dietitian" for "dietitian", where appropriate;

     (2)  Specify that the practice regulated by this measure is
          dietetic practice, by replacing the term nutrition with
          "dietetic" or "dietetics", where appropriate;

     (3)  Delete the definition of "medical nutrition therapy", a
          term that is not used in the bill;

     (4)  Include the definition of "dietetics practice";

     (5)  Exempt from required licensure, a person whose work
          overlaps with the practice of dietetics but is within
          the scope of practice or the duties of the person's
          profession, provided the person does not purport to be
          a licensed dietitian;

     (6)  Provide that validation of the academic degrees of
          license applicants educated outside the United States
          and its territories must be performed by an agency
          authorized to validate foreign degrees;

     (7)  Change the first and subsequent triennial renewal dates
          of licenses from December 31st of the applicable year,
          to June 30;

     (8)  Change the effective date of the Act from January 1, to
          July 1, 2000; and

     (9)  Make other technical, nonsubstantive amendments for
          purposes of style and clarity.

     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.
749, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 749, H.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.


 
 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 108
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health,



                                   ______________________________
                                   ALEXANDER C. SANTIAGO, Chair