Bills of interest for Wednesday, Feb. 13th

Committee on Health/Committee on Human Services & Housing, Room 329, 8:00 a.m.

HB2867 RELATING TO STATE HEALTH PLANNING. Repeals certificate of need process and the law governing acquisition of hospitals in relation to state health planning. (Say BR)

HB2187 RELATING TO TOXIC PRODUCTS. Prohibits the manufacturing, sale or distribution of toys and child care articles containing certain toxic chemicals and requires manufacturers to use the least toxic alternatives. (Thielen)

HB2419 RELATING TO HOSPITALS. Requires Hawaii health systems corporation to develop a plan to establish a hospital in South Maui and in Lahaina, Maui. (Bertram)

HB3347 MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE QUEEN'S MEDICAL CENTER TO PROVIDE FOR EMERGENCY ENERGY CAPACITY. Appropriates $10 million to the Queen's Medical Center as a grant to increase its emergency power generator system to ensure a required maximum capacity of 6,000 kilowatts to continue operating its hospital and trauma center in the event of a disaster. (Evans)

DECISION MAKING ONLY:
HB2680 RELATING TO FOOD. Bans the use of the artificial sweetener aspartame in food products.
HB2675 RELATING TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA. Authorizes the use of a written certification or its equivalent issued by another state government to permit the medical use of marijuana by a qualifying patient in place of a certificate provided by the Department of Public Safety.
HB2077 RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE. Requires that mutual benefit societies annually spend on health community benefit programs no less than 50% of the savings that they receive annually from their general excise tax exemption as nonprofit organizations.

Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, Room 325, 2:00 p.m.

DECISION MAKING ONLY:
HB1992 HD1 RELATING TO MEDICAL LIABILITY. Addresses medical malpractice insurance costs by capping non-economic damages at $250,000, establishing a limit of $3 million for non-economic damages determined by the court to be catastrophic damages, and requiring that economic damages be allocated based upon proportionate percentage of negligence.