STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 614
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2021
RE: H.B. No. 1281
H.D. 1
Honorable Scott K. Saiki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2021
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 1281 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The
purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Transfer the duties, functions, and powers relating to emergency medical services for the City and County of Honolulu from the Department of Health to the City and County of Honolulu;
(2) Appropriate general funds to the City and County of Honolulu for emergency medical services for Fiscal Year 2021-2022; and
(3) Appropriate half of the monies in the Emergency Medical Services Special Fund to the City and County of Honolulu for emergency medical services for Fiscal Years 2021‑2022 and 2022-2023.
Your Committee finds
that under the current emergency medical services system, most costs are
negotiated by the counties and paid by the State, resulting in a statewide
operating cost of over $100,000,000.
Your Committee further finds that moving to a shared cost system and
transferring many of the duties and responsibilities of operating an emergency
medical services system to the City and County of Honolulu, as proposed by this
measure, would reduce the State's financial burden while also providing the
county with greater flexibility to deploy its own emergency medical services
resources that will complement existing county‑based services such as
police and fire departments.
Your
Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Clarifying that the Department of Health is
responsible for administering and maintaining a communication system only
within the areas of the State not covered by a county emergency medical
services system;
(2) Clarifying that the Department of Health is
responsible for establishing standards and training dispatchers within the areas
of the State not covered by a county emergency medical services system;
(3) Clarifying that counties operating a county
emergency medical service system are responsible for the purchase, maintenance,
and servicing of all ambulance vehicles, equipment, supplies, and communication
systems;
(4) Clarifying that the transfer of rights, powers,
functions, and duties for the operation of and emergency medical services
system the City and County of Honolulu shall occur over a four-year period,
beginning with the transfer of all training and billing for emergency services
on July 1, 2021;
(5) Establishing a graduated timeline for reductions
in state funding over the four-year transition period;
(6) Appropriating an unspecified amount of general
funds to the City and County of Honolulu for emergency medical services for
Fiscal Year 2022-2023;
(7) Clarifying that the appropriation out of the
Emergency Services Special Fund for Fiscal Years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 is for
the purpose of transferring half the monies in the special fund to the general
fund;
(8) Prohibiting funds from the Emergency Services
Special Fund to be used for the operation of an emergency medical service
system in the City and County of Honolulu; and
(9) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments
for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1281, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1281, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness,
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____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair |
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