Bill Text: HI SB498 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Emergency Medical Services; Special Emergency Medical Response Vehicle Unit; Appropriation ($)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-07-02 - Act 242, on 6/28/2013 (Gov. Msg. No. 1345). [SB498 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB498-Amended.html

---

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 517

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 498

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 498, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds out of the emergency medical services special fund to establish and fund a Maalaea-based special emergency medical response unit on the island of Maui.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Rural Health Association and the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that the population in south and west Maui has grown rapidly in recent years, resulting in a significant increase in calls for emergency medical services.  However, there are now only two ambulances that serve the residents of these districts, and it may take over forty-five minutes to reach the hospital if the ambulance is responding from an out-of-district location.  Therefore, your Committee finds that funding an additional Maalaea-based special response vehicle will reduce critical response times and improve the chances of a good outcome for injured individuals.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

          (1)  Changing the appropriation to an unspecified sum;

 

(2)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion on the matter; and

 

(3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 498, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 498, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair