STAND. COM. REP. NO. 183

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1185

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1185 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to establish five additional faculty positions at the Center on Aging Research and Education to assist in the fulfillment of its mission.

 

     The University of Hawaii System, the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, the Hawaii Aging Advocates Coalition, Kokua Council, Hawaii Centers for Independent Living, and five individual submitted testimony in support of this measure.

 

     Your Committees find that the mission of the Center on Aging Research and Education is to assure the well-being of the State's older population by stimulating and coordinating gerontological and aging instruction, research, and community services.  There is currently an urgent need to actively engage in gerontological research given the rapidly aging population in Hawaii.  Given proper staffing levels, the Center on Aging Research and Education can become a viable research and training center and support the development of relevant social and economic policies pertaining to Hawaii's elder population.

 

     It is the Committees' intent to support the proper staffing of the Center on Aging Research and Education.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by adding additional language to the purpose section to better articulate the importance of the Center on Aging Research and Education and the broad impact it can have on preparing this State to meet the challenges of its rapidly aging population.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1185, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1185, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Education,

 

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair