STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1053_______

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 749
                                     H.D. 3




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No.
749, H.D. 2, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DIETITIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to establish a licensure program
for dietitians that restricts the use of the title "licensed
dietitian" to those persons meeting specified educational and
other requirements.

     Numerous individuals representing the full-range of health
care professionals working on Oahu and the neighbor islands,
including testimony from doctors, nurses, dietitians, health care
administrators, pharmacists, medical researchers and professors,
and private citizens, testified in support of this measure.  The
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and several
individuals and health care professionals commented on this
measure.

     Your Committee finds that certification and licensure for
dietitians is a complex issue.  The consumer continues to be
challenged in discerning between the educated, qualified
practitioner, and the untrained, unqualified practitioner.  To
date, over 40 documented cases of harm related to dietetic
practice have occurred in Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that although there is a need for some
regulation in the field of dietetics, the dietitians are in a

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1053_______
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difficult position to achieve licensure because of the cost
factor of having to create and take a new exam.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the licensure program to a certification
          program; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
749, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 749, H.D. 3.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair