STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2360

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 668

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 668 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE REGISTRY OF CLEAN AND SOBER HOMES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide immunity from liability to the Department of Health and its employees, agents, and volunteers for operating the clean and sober homes registry in good faith.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Paroling Authority, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, The Salvation Army Addiction Treatment Services and Family Treatment Services, The CHOW Project, and Ku Aloha Ola Mau.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Association for Justice and Ho‘omana Pono, LLC.

     Your Committees find that stable housing is a critical component in the continuum of substance abuse treatment and recovery.  Act 193, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, was enacted to help residents of clean and sober group homes to access a stable, alcohol- and drug-free home-like living environment that provides a means for persons to return to the community without the rigid structure of a licensed therapeutic living program.

     Your Committees further find that the voluntary registry of clean and sober homes will provide a more formalized means for agencies to refer clients.  However, exposure to liability is possible if information made available in good faith by registry staff results in adverse consequences or if the public attempts to hold the registry liable for incidents that occur in a particular clean and sober home.

     Your Committees acknowledge that clean and sober homes are not licensed by the Department of Health and that the Department is performing non-regulatory responsibilities in the registry of these homes.  This measure reduces the State's exposure to liability for operating the registry for clean and sober homes in good faith.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 668, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 668, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair