STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3534

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1756

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1756, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require criminal history record checks for the nursing profession.

 

Specifically, this measure:

 

(1)  Authorizes the Board of Nursing to conduct investigations of the background, character, competency, and integrity, as the board deems appropriate, of an applicant for a nursing license or for renewal, reinstatement, reactivation, or restoration of the license;

 

(2)  Requires applicants for a nursing license renewal or reactivation to submit full sets of electronic fingerprints to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center for processing with the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and

 

(3)  Authorizes the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to conduct criminal history record checks on applicants for nurse licensure or license renewal, reactivation, or restoration.

 

     Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Board of Nursing and two individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that while Hawaii has one of the highest regulatory standards for the nursing profession, it is also among the minority of states that have not yet adopted criminal background check verification for licensees.  Your Committees also find that criminal background checks are essential to ensuring the availability of safe and quality nursing services to the public.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1756, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1756, H.D. 3, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor,

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair