STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2393

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2448
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Education
and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2448 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AUTISM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish the Hawaii
Autism Center for Excellence within the University of Hawaii at
Manoa (UHM).

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this
measure from the Department of Health, Department of Education,
UHM, Autism Society of Hawaii, Hawaii Coalition for Health, The
Institute for Family Enrichment, the State Children's Council,
and twenty-nine private individuals.

     Your Committees find that autism causes severe impairments
in language and communication, and generally manifests itself in
young children in the first two years of life, causing
devastation that lasts a lifetime due to the emotional and
financial distress that families experience.  The prevalence of
autism is more common than popularly thought.  The federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in
five hundred individuals in the State are affected by autism,
although this figure may be underestimated due to lack of
accurate diagnostic procedures.  Autism is the third most common
developmental disorder and is more prevalent than Down's
Syndrome, childhood cancer, or cystic fibrosis.


 
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     Your Committees further find that there has been little
biomedical research into autism, in spite of the fact that
scientists consider autism to be one of the most congenital of
all developmental disorders and most likely to yield to the
latest scientific advancements in genetics and neurology.  Other
states have established autism research centers, including
nationally recognized centers in California, Connecticut,
Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, and these centers
attract funding from the National Institutes of Health.

     Your Committees believe that Hawaii cannot wait any longer
to commit resources to autism research so that another generation
of autistic children will not be lost to society.  This measure
establishes a world-class autism research center at the UHM.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying the purpose section to more fully explain
          autism and autism spectrum disorders and the need for
          autism research;

     (2)  Placing the Hawaii autism center of excellence within
          the UHM School of Medicine;

     (3)  Adding autism, evaluation, and psychosocial disciplines
          to the research functions of the center;

     (4)  Clarifying the duties of the center to endeavor to
          establish diagnostic evaluation and assessment;

     (5)  Including infants to adults in the population to be
          served by the center;

     (6)  Requiring the center to collaborate with the State,
          private sector, and with persons with autism and autism
          spectrum disorders; and

     (7)  Requiring the center to establish an advisory
          committee.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Health and Human Services and Education and
Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are
in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2448, as
amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the
form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2448, S.D. 1, and be referred to
the Committee on Ways and Means.


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



____________________________       ______________________________
DAVID Y. IGE, Chair                SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 
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