Bill Text: HI SCR178 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 178 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Recognizing And Supporting Ongoing Collaborative Efforts To Implement A Statewide Strategy To Eliminate Viral Hepatitis Types A, B, And C In Hawaii.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-16 - Referred to HTH. [SCR178 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-SCR178-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	178
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

RECOGNIZING AND SUPPORTING ONGOING COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT A STATEWIDE STRATEGY TO ELIMINATE VIRAL HEPATITIS TYPES A, B, AND C IN HAWAII.

WHEREAS, viral hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by a viral infection; and

WHEREAS, the most common forms of viral hepatitis in the United States are hepatitis types A, B, and C; and

WHEREAS, about sixty-three thousand people in Hawaii are living with viral hepatitis types B or C, and many persons may be unaware that they are infected; and

WHEREAS, viral hepatitis types B and C have been linked to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer, diseases that affect the State's residents at disproportionately high rates; and

WHEREAS, communities at higher risk for developing viral hepatitis include indigenous communities, African Americans, veterans, incarcerated persons, those experiencing homelessness, pregnant women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community; and

WHEREAS, the State is currently engaged in proactive measures to help eliminate viral hepatitis in underserved and at-risk communities by expanding Med-QUEST to cover hepatitis C medications, offering syringe service programs to reduce the spread of hepatitis C among people who use injectable drugs, identifying and supporting foreign-born women and families at high risk of contracting hepatitis B, and ensuring that homeless communities are immunized against hepatitis A; and

WHEREAS, state agencies and private organizations are also helping to reduce and eliminate viral hepatitis types A, B, and C by offering vaccines, testing, education, training programs, and care services; and

WHEREAS, on July 28, 2020, United States Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, Lieutenant Governor, and the Harm Reduction Services Branch of the Department of Health issued "Hep Free 2030", a ten-year statewide strategy to help eliminate viral hepatitis types A, B, and C in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the "Hep Free 2030" strategy emphasized the need to integrate culturally appropriate services into a comprehensive system of care and to promote the core values of harm reduction, social justice, intersectionality, and aloha; and

WHEREAS, continued coordination and ongoing efforts are needed to further implement the statewide strategy to eliminate viral hepatitis types A, B, and C in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislature recognizes and supports ongoing collaborative efforts by state agencies and private organizations to implement the "Hep Free 2030" statewide strategy to eliminate viral hepatitis types A, B, and C in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate Committee on Health and the House Committee on Health, Human Services, and Homelessness are requested to convene a joint informational briefing after the completion of the Regular Session of 2021 and before the commencement of the Regular Session of 2022 to assess the progress and status of the "Hep Free 2030" statewide strategy implementation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to United States Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz; Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Chairperson of the House Committee on Health, Human Services, and Homelessness; Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health; Director of Health; Branch Chief of the Harm Reduction Services

Branch of the Department of Health; Executive Director of the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center; and Executive Director of Hep Free Hawaii.