STAND. COM. REP. NO. 376

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 729

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 729 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the role of advanced practice registered nurses relating to emergency hospital admission and involuntary hospitalization.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Nursing, The Queen's Health Systems, and one individual.

     Your Committees find that in Hawaii, advanced practice registered nurses are recognized as primary care providers and should be permitted to practice to the full extent of their education and training.  In recognition of this, Act 232, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, added advanced practice registered nurses to the list of mental health professionals qualified to diagnose mental illness under section 334-59, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to emergency hospitalization.  However, additional amendments relating to advanced practice registered nurses under section 334-59, Hawaii Revised Statutes, are necessary for consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 729 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair