STAND. COM. REP. NO. 312

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1164

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Higher Education and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1164 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to advance the mental health treatment of students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa by establishing and funding three full-time psychologist positions and one full-time case manager position.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii System, Counseling and Student Development Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Associated Students of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and eight individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that in recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of college students requesting mental health services, and that college students are increasingly presenting with severe and complex psychological problems.  These trends have incited national alarm and are of concern for students and universities in Hawaii as well.

 

     Your Committees recognize the growing demand for psychological services and the need for specialized expertise in working with traditional and non-traditional college students.  Your Committees find that the University of Hawaii at Manoa has only seven and one-half tenured track psychologist positions even though average enrollment is twenty thousand students and the national guideline is one licensed psychologist for every one thousand to one thousand five hundred students.  Your Committees further find that students should not have to wait up to two and a half weeks for an appointment at the University's counseling and student development center when the student is suffering from mental health symptoms.  This measure will help students get the mental health services they need on a timely basis.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1164 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

________________________________

KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair