STAND. COM. REP. NO. 521

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 400

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 400 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require child care facilities, including family child care homes, group child care centers, and group child care homes, and infant and toddler child care centers that care for children one year of age or younger to develop, maintain, and implement safe sleep policies to prevent sudden unexpected infant deaths and sudden infant death syndrome.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the March of Dimes Foundation and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committee finds that sudden unexpected infant death is a broad term that refers to the sudden death of an infant less than one year of age where the specific cause of death is not immediately obvious prior to investigation.  Sudden infant death syndrome is the sudden death of an infant less than one year of age where the death cannot be explained even after a thorough investigation.  It is the leading cause of death in babies between one month and one year of age and babies between two and four months old are the most vulnerable to sudden infant death syndrome.  Your Committee further finds that the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that one in five deaths from sudden infant death syndrome occurs while an infant is in the care of someone other than a parent.  This measure ensures that all registered or licensed child care providers in Hawaii will have policies in place to maintain safe sleep environments for infants.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that all child care facilities shall implement and maintain a written safe sleep policy in accordance with any rules that may be adopted by the Department of Human Services to implement the provisions of the new section in chapter 346, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

 

     (2)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 400, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 400, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair