STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1169

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1373

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1373, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure that children from birth to age three, with or at risk for developmental delays, receive early intervention services.

 

     Specifically, this measure makes an emergency appropriation for early intervention services as mandated by Part C of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 and the Hawaii Early Intervention State Plan.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Easter Seals Hawaii, Imua Family Services, and American Physical Therapy Association Hawaii Chapter.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Health is responsible for ensuring that all infants and toddlers from birth to three years of age with a developmental, biological, or environmental risk and their families receive early intervention services.  Your Committee further finds that this emergency appropriation is needed to provide for the increased costs associated with early intervention services that are required to be in natural environments and community-based settings.

 

     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. 1373, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair