HB 2558 expands telehealth access for state residents by allowing out-of-state medical providers to deliver certain clinical treatments via telehealth. It directly affects residents seeking remote care and out-of-state healthcare providers who can now legally offer these services within the state. The key provision removes current restrictions, enabling licensed providers from other states to conduct specific telehealth consultations and treatments for state residents. This policy change aims to increase healthcare access options without requiring providers to obtain additional state licenses for these services.
HB 2288 expands parole eligibility for incarcerated individuals by allowing them to qualify for parole through participation in a broader range of rehabilitation programs. The bill directly affects committed persons (those serving prison sentences) by adding new program types to the existing criteria for parole consideration. Key provisions require correctional facilities to recognize these additional programs as meeting the eligibility requirements for parole hearings. This change aims to provide more pathways for inmates to demonstrate rehabilitation progress before parole consideration.
Requires the health benefits plan or plans established by the Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund board to meet or exceed the requirements of the Prepaid Health Care Act. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1).
Expands free school meal coverage, beginning with the 2029-2030 school year, to all public school students, including public charter school students, regardless of whether the student participates in a federal school meals program. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Appropriates funds to the Department of Health to contract with community-based organizations to provide preventive and early intervention mental health services to adolescents within the community. Requires a report to the Legislature. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Prohibits health care facilities, health care providers, and emergency medical services from furnishing medical debt to a consumer credit reporting agency. Prohibits consumer credit reporting agencies from reporting or maintaining medical debt information in the file on a consumer. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Authorizes registered nurses and qualified state-licensed health care professionals who are participating in a community paramedicine program approved by the Department of Health who are licensed by the State to administer medication as part of an assisted community treatment order's treatment plan to the subject of the order, under certain circumstances. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Amends the existing prohibition on conversion therapy by prohibiting the practice on persons under the age of twenty-five and the advertisement of such practice. Explicitly provides that talk therapy in the form of pure speech is exempt from the prohibition on conversion therapy. Takes effect upon the certification by the Attorney General that the Supreme Court of the United States has overturned the holding in Chiles v. Salazar, 116 F.4th 1178 (10th Cir. 2024). Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Exempts emergency medical services personnel from commercial driver's license requirements. Expands the definition of "authorized emergency vehicle" under the State Traffic Code to replace ambulances with emergency medical services vehicles, and include disaster response and recovery vehicles, Department of Health-approved vehicles, and vehicles designated as emergency vehicles by the State or an emergency management agency. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Establishes and appropriates funds for an Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Research Center at the University of Hawaii, to be administratively affiliated with the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, including the establishment of full-time positions. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)