Report Title:

Community Health Centers; Funding

Description:

Increases the percentage of tobacco settlement funds that are received by the department of health and correspondingly decreases the amount appropriated into the emergency and budget reserve fund under section 328L-3. Provides that a percentage of the amounts received by the department of health shall be used to fund operating expenditures of community health centers. (SD1)

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1519

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that community health centers and clinics provide much needed, high quality primary health care services to Hawaii's rural communities. Such facilities include the Hana Community Health Center and Community Clinic of Maui; the Hamakua Health Center and Bay Clinic on the island of Hawaii; and Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, Queen Emma Clinics, and the Kalihi-Palama, Waikiki, Waimanalo, and Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Centers on Oahu. Residents, neighbor island visitors, and tourists statewide rely on community health centers to provide a wide array of medical services in rural communities.

Importantly, community health centers are safety net providers of quality primary care services, on a sliding fee scale, to all, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. To cover the operational costs of providing quality care, community health centers generally rely on funding from a number of sources, including the federal Bureau of Primary Health Care and other federal agencies, the State, and private grants.

The purpose of this Act is to dedicate a portion of the tobacco settlement funds to provide continued funding for community health centers and clinics.

SECTION 2. Section 328L-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The fund shall be used for the purpose of receiving, allocating, and appropriating the tobacco settlement moneys as follows:

(1) [Twenty-four and one-half] per cent shall be appropriated into the emergency and budget reserve fund under section 328L-3;

(2) [Thirty-five] per cent shall be appropriated to the department for purposes of section 328L-4;

(3) Twelve and one-half per cent shall be appropriated into the Hawaii tobacco prevention and control trust fund under section 328L-5; and

(4) Twenty-eight per cent shall be appropriated into the university revenue-undertakings fund created in section 306-10, to be applied solely to the payment of the principal of and interest on, and to generate required coverage, if any, for, revenue bonds issued by the board of regents of the University of Hawaii to finance the cost of construction of a university health and wellness center, including a new medical school facility, to be situated on the island of Oahu, for the succeeding fiscal year; provided that any moneys in excess of the amount required to pay principal of and interest on, and to generate required coverage, if any, for such revenue bonds in any fiscal year, shall be transferred to the emergency and budget reserve fund under section 328L-3, and the Hawaii tobacco prevention and control trust fund under section 328L-5, in the succeeding fiscal year, in the same proportion as to the amount of moneys appropriated to those funds in accordance with this subsection."

SECTION 3. Section 328L-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§328L-4[]] Use of funds appropriated to the department. The department, immediately upon receipt of the [thirty-five] per cent of moneys appropriated pursuant to section 328L-2(b)(2) shall:

(1) Transfer up to ten per cent of the total moneys received by the State from tobacco settlement moneys to the department of human services for the children’s health insurance program; [and]

(2) Expend    per cent of the total moneys received to provide dedicated funding for required lawful operating expenditures of community health centers, including contingencies for correcting any deficiencies cited by agencies that monitor and evaluate the community health centers; provided that for purposes of this paragraph, "community health center" means an entity that provides quality primary care services on a sliding fee scale to all, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay; and

[(2)] (3) Expend the remainder of the moneys received by the department for health promotion and disease prevention programs, including but not limited to, maternal child health and child development programs, promotion of healthy lifestyles (including fitness, nutrition, and tobacco control), and prevention oriented public health programs.

For purposes of paragraph [(2)] (3), the director shall convene an advisory group that shall be separate from the tobacco prevention and control advisory board, to strategically plan the development and implementation of preventive systems to achieve measurable outcomes and to make recommendations for the expenditure of these moneys. The advisory group shall be composed of nine members with expertise in the programs under paragraph [(2)] (3), and shall be selected at the discretion of the director."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.