STAND. COM. REP. NO. 864

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 223

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 223, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Authorize a naturopathic physician to prescribe testosterone that is consistent with naturopathic medical practice; and

 

     (2)  Clarify that narcotic drugs shall not be included within the naturopathic formulary.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Naturopathic Medicine.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Medical Association.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Regulated Industries Complaints Office of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

 

     Your Committees find that naturopathic physicians provide skilled and quality care to patients throughout the State.  Although naturopathic physicians in Hawaii have the ability to prescribe many of the medicines commonly prescribed in family practice, they are unable to prescribe controlled substances.  This measure therefore authorizes a naturopathic physician to prescribe controlled substances that are consistent with naturopathic medical practice, but specifies that narcotic drugs are not to be included within the naturopathic formulary.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 223, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 223, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair