Senate Standing Committee on Health and Human Services

Aloha, everybody. Welcome to the hearing on the Health and Human Service Committee, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 03:20PM, convening Conference Room 225. Meeting being streamed live on YouTube.

In the unlikely event we have to abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties, we will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business at 03:20PM, Thursday, April 16, 2026 in this Room, 225, with a public notice being posted on our legislative website.

The commit due to the committee's protocol rules, it's a one limit on testimony. However, because it's governor's messages, we'll be flexible with that. And so with that, we'll just go dive right into it.

The first measure on the agenda is governor's message 707, Mr. Kanwardeep Koleka to the substance abuse Kauai service area board. Term expiring 06/30/2030. We're testifying on behalf of the nominee first as Department of Health.

Okay. We have written testimony and support, and we also, I believe, have Mr. Kaleka here. Mr. Kaleka, is that you?

Aloha. Yeah. That's me. Hello.

Hey. How are you doing, sir?

Doing well.

Doing great. Great. Well, sir, first of all, why did tell me why you're interested in in in serving in this capacity in this on this board.

Well, I'm a psychiatrist and a family physician here on Kauai. And have a strong passion for the community here and helping them not only as a provider,

but trying to help change the whole system to improve the community's overall health and well-being, especially with mental health and addiction.

We were all working with you on trying to get a questionnaire for the committee, but I guess you were weren't able to do it because you're very, very busy on Kauai.

My apologies. I thought I did it, but I must have slipped.

Yeah. Okay. Well, that's good to know. I mean, is there a way you could get this to the committee still?

Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

That'd be great. Because, yeah, we're our concern was that, you know, you're really busy and important part of the Kauai community, and we just wanna ensure that you have the time to dedicate to be on the board. So that's what's the concerns I had.

But if you can do the questionnaire for us, the committee would greatly appreciate it.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Okay. Sounds good. I'm the only one here. And I think other than that, you are very well credentialed And, you know, especially with some of the issues going on with mental health being from Kauai, you appear to be a very strong voice in this area.

So I appreciate you stepping up and testifying, and I appreciate in advance getting that questionnaire to the committee.

Yeah. My pleasure.

Okay. Sounds good. With that, we'll move on to the next one, which is governor's message five three seven. And this is for the Hawaii Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Controlled Substances, Kunani Dreyer, for a term 06/30/2029, which it will end.

First up, we have apologize, everybody.

Hold on a second.

SHPDA. Like, pulling the name out of that. SHPDA. We've written testimony in support for the nominee from SHPDA. That's all the, testimony received on the nominees.

Is there anybody else wishing to testify? Oh, there he is. Yes. Come on up. There you are.

There you are.

This is for Hillary King.

Yep.

We're very fortunate to have Hillary as our, SHPDA nominee. She's a great great community. She she was actually a former miss Hawaii for one thing But also a really important community leader and a person who understands a lot about health care,

use that as a mission for traveling states. So we're very fortunate to have recruited, Haley for our council. The testimony stands on, on its own ground there.

She has a she has a very interesting career, and really will be a tremendous source of advice for us, and the council's looking forward to that to having her participate with us.

Excellent. Okay. Thank you for being here and testifying. Appreciate it. That's all we received on the nominees.

Is there anybody else who wants to testify in behalf of the nominee? Department of Health? Oh, no. Okay. If not, we'll have the No.

We'll have the nominee come forward. Nominee here. Are they on Zoom?

They're present Chair.

Oh, there they are. Hey, Hailey.

Hi. Well, sorry. I thought we were on the I thought we were on before me. I apologize.

No worries. It's been kind of a Okay. Back to day here. But, anyway, why don't you go ahead and tell us why you'd like to to serve on the on the war?

Yeah. So what I wrote in my testimony was I just I grew up on the the Windward Side Of Oahu. I served at Waimanalo Health Center. And then as miss Hawaii, I served the state as a whole. And it's just I'm deeply I'm deeply rooted in this community.

This is and I care a lot about the health and well-being of our community. And, I just see how I see firsthand growing up here how access to health care can widely vary depending on location and resources and cultural understanding.

So being a part of this board is unique because it can help me to have a voice based on my own experience having grown up there.

Excellent. Thank you so much. Chairs, you have a question of the nominee now?

No. Thank you for being willing to serve and

Yes.

And being willing to volunteer. We need voices like yours, varied voices within the community to help serve in the Health Planning Council.

Mahalo nui, and mahalo to Terry Bee and Dr. Lewin and SHPDA. I'm really looking forward to it.

Okay. Sounds good. We'll do decision making at the end on all the nominees on the agenda. Okay? But thank you for being here.

Appreciate it. And also just wanna know that she did receive testimony from the Hawaii substance abuse council and Hina Mauka. I don't know if any of them are here. She can testify. Okay.

I kinda messed up and I skipped one of our nominees, So I'm going to go back. I skipped Kunane Dreier, GM537. I apologize to everybody. It's been one of those days. Again, Department of Health.

Go ahead, sir.

Aloha. Vice Chair and Chair, John Valera from Department of Health, standing in on our written remarks in strong support of Kunane Dreier. Definitely, his voice, representing, especially, the harm reduction community as part as part of our advisory council.

Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here testifying. I apologize. These are the testifiers I read for the previous nominee for this one.

So we have Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition written in support, and Brian Baker of Hina Mauka written in support. That's all the testimony we have on the nominee. So we would like to go ahead and see if the nominee would like to join us. Go ahead, sir.

Hi. Aloha. I'm here. Kunane Dreier. From the community and from Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, and I've been I'm I'm honored to be have been asked to be a part of the coalition.

Okay. Great. And then what, I guess, issues do you see that you'd like to bring a voice to on the board coming up?

Yeah.

So in my can everybody see me? I guess so.

In my questionnaire that I answered, part of it is so one is 26 years of my own personal recovery from substance use and alcohol that I bring to the table, so and then as a result of the my journey in recovery, my professional life now is also in embodies this work

around harm reduction and being very understanding and knowing the experience of somebody who may be actively somewhere on the continuum of substance use and recovery, and so I think it's so important to make sure you have someone with lived experience

and here you have both lived and professional experience coming to the table representing rural communities.

I live in Ahuula. I bring forward the Mahu LGBTQIA plus communities, native Hawaiian, just all of these various communities to, add to the conversations that all the professionals that are bringing and their expertise to this.

And I think substance use is not going away. So how do we continue to try to curve the Continuum so that we can decrease and get more people into recovery and prevention. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate you being here. Appreciate your thoughts. Chair, do you have any questions on the nominee?

No. But thank you so much for stepping up. But you you're right. We need people with lived experiences such as yours. You've been twenty six years in recovery.

You know, because you have been involved with the LGBTQIA as well as the native Hawaiian communities, your your type of experience will help us shape policy. And so thank you for being willing to step up.

Thank you so much. We appreciate it. We'll go ahead and we will take up all the GMs at the very end of the agenda, but thank you for being on Zoom with us, Mr. Dreier.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. Okay. We'll move on to the next one, which is GM662. This is, Olivia Kim for the Center for Nursing Advisory Board for term ending on 06/30/2029. We have testimony in support first for the nominee from Hawaii State Center of Nursing.

Hello? Hey. Being very patient today.

Oh, there's my computer. Well Chair, Vice Chair, this is I'm Laura Reichardt. I'm the director of the Hawaii State Center for Nursing. Olivia Kim, I first got to know her when she was a board member and then the Vice Chair of the Hawaii Board of Nursing, which at that time,

she was representing the LPN workforce. She represents the long term care community, which is a huge and very difficult area to support recruitment and retention.

So that having her insight about what it is both, you know, formally working as a staff work staff nurse now working in leadership. She's also when we look at the generations then, she is a younger a younger nurse, and so it it's also very helpful to have that experience as well, being someone who is

earlier in their career and has had a lot of accolades, but has a lot of insight, contributes significantly.

So her her expertise in many different areas are very welcomed, and we're very excited to have her on our board. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here and testifying. That's all we received on the nominee, and I believe the nominee isn't here today. Correct?

Oh, we're scheduled for Thursday. Right? Okay. So the nominees couldn't be here to join us today. However, we appreciate you you being here testifying.

We're gonna move them to Thursday to decision make so we can talk the story with them there. So thank you for being here again, Laura.

Okay. We will move on to the next one, which is GM724. And this is for Tricia Lynn Yamashita for the Kauai Subarea Health Planning Council for a term to expire 06/30/2030.

And the first up, of course, is SHPDA.

Thank you, Chairs, Chair, Vice Chair. And, so we have another great nominee for our council. Jack Lewin, administrator of SHPDA. Trisha Trisha-Lynn Yamashita is is gonna really round out our Kauai representation. So we're really delighted to have her with us.

She comes with a she's a bachelor degree from Chaminade. She went to a master's University of Hawaii I mean, Maryland, and then she got her master's actually at Hawaii Pacific University.

So she's knows health care but she's really been around in the hospice world all across the state. She's worked with virtually every hospice association.

And has privately done things out on the outside, girl scouts, and other really great services in the community. Very well respected, and we are really delighted to have her. You know, we really think that this year, we've have stepped up.

We see a whole host of new people that are gonna really jump in and help us with rural health and with a head grant and all the other responsibilities that these these advisors will now share. So we're just delighted to have them.

Yep. Thank you for being here testifying. On behalf of the nominee, we also have the Mayor of Kauai County, Mayor Kawakami. Okay. Not written in support. Kukuamao, they have written in support from the director, Janette Kojani.

Hilton Rathel of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii has sent testimony in support of the nominee, Daniel Fishberg, testifying on his self as an individual in support of the nominee, and then late from Jonathan Ching from Kaiser Permanente, in support of the nominee.

That's all we received on support of the nominee. Anybody in the audience wishing to testify on this? If not, we'll have the nominee here to join us.

Thank you for being here, miss Yamashita.

Aloha. Thank you for having me.

We'll go ahead and let you make a statement, and then maybe tell the committee why you're interested in serving on the board and some of the things you'd like to bring from your perspective to the board that in your term.

I'd love to. Thank you. I am Trisha Yamashita. I serve as the executive director of Kauai Hospice, which is a privilege to do so. I do have a master's in public health and a master's in palliative care and currently pursuing my master's my PhD in palliative care,

with focus on improving care delivery systems for individuals with serious illness, with a particular focus on rural communities.

Through my work, I've had the privilege of partnering across healthcare settings throughout Hawaii, which has given me a strong understanding of both the strength and the challenges of our system, especially around access, coordination, and sustainability

in rural island communities. If confirmed, I'm committed to serving in partnership with the Health Planning Council and supporting thoughtful, data informed, and community centered planning to ensure healthcare services continue to meet the evolving needs of

our residents. It would be an honor to serve in this capacity. Mahalo for your time and consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

K. Thank you so much. Two magic words for me, data informed and community centric. So I appreciate you having that as your focus. I don't have any questions other than the original one I asked.

Chair, do you have any questions of the nominees?

No. But I just wanna say thank you for being willing to step up. The fact that mayor Kaukami is supporting your nominee shows that you have contributed well into the community.

And your hospice , Dr. Lewin pointed out, your hospice background adds a different dimension to the Health Planning Council to help us shape policy into the future. So thank you again for being willing to step up.

Mahalo.

Okay. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it. We're gonna take up the governance messages decision making very shortly. Okay.

Let's see. We also just have a note that, for the record that the Health Department wanted to stand for the written on GM707. We just wanna make sure that's in the record. Okay? If not, we'll move on to the final one, 790.

This is for the serve board of certification of operating personal wastewater treatment plants. Emily Dong for a term to expire 06/30/2030. We've not received any testimony for the nominee from any third party. So is the nominee there, Emily? Hello?

Hi. Yes. Hello.

Hi. How you doing? Good. So why don't you go ahead and just let the committee know, you know, give us a statement and then maybe tell us about, you know, why you wanna serve on the board and some of the things you hope to bring to the board during your tenure.

Sure. So I'm Emily. I have my master's in environmental engineering. I've worked in the profession of wastewater for sixteen years. I'm a professional engineer, and I believe that, you know, wastewater is so important to public health and safety.

It's one of those things that if you don't hear about it in the news, if you don't hear about it at all, you know, something's going right. So in order for that to happen, we need good wastewater operators.

So I've been involved with a lot of wastewater operator training over the last few years. We're really trying to get more operators into the field and, you know, really build this profession.

So our goal as part of the board is to make sure that the state requirements, the regulations, are met for those operations staff and to make sure that they are doing what they need to do to make sure we have a clean, great environment that Hawaii is known for.

Exactly. No. We appreciate that. Especially the workforce pipeline development aspect. That's something that doesn't even get mentioned in the in the wastewater.

But, you know, it's definitely important to have that pipeline. So I appreciate you having that as a focus and trying to bring that perspective to the board. That's all the questions I have of the nominee chair or any of the members that they have questions.

No. No? Again, I just want and thank you so much for being willing to step up. We know that there is a lot of demands on your time as an engineer. And, yes, we agree that wastewater, if done right, nobody hears about it.

And so you're the kind of person we know that we'll make sure that the certification is done right for these personnel for the wastewater treatment. So thank you very much.

I'm happy to give my time. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much. With that, we'll roll right into decision making. So the first one we had today was GM707. Recommendation of Kanwardeep Kaleka to the Kauai service area board, is to advise and consent.

Members questions, comments? If not, 707 advise and consent.

With seeing Senator Fevella as excuse, all other Members present. Are there any reservations? Any opposition? Recommendations adopted.

K. Next up and thanks, everybody. GM537. This is for Kunane Dreier for the Hawaii advisory commission on drug abuse and controlled substances. Recommendation is to advise and consent.

Members questions, comments? If not, advise and consent.

With Senator Fevella as excuse, all other Members present, any reservations? Any no votes? Recommendations adopted.

Okay. Next up, GM545. Haley Kane, for the Windward area, Severe, Health Planning Council recommendation is to advise and consent on the nominee. Questions, comments? If not, advise and consent.

With Senator Fevella, noting that is excused. All other Members present, any reservations? Any no votes? Recommendation adopted.

Okay. GM662, as we discussed earlier, the nominee could not be here to join us. So we'll defer time certain Thursday, April 16, 03:20PM in Room 225. Next up, we have GM724. This is for Tricia-Lynn Yamashita for the Kauai Subarea Health Planning Council.

Very much a great nominee, so we wanna advise and consent. Members, questions, comments? If not, 724, advise and consent.

Noting Senator Fevella as excused, all other Members present, and are there any reservations? Any no votes? Recommendation adopted.

Okay. And finally, g m seven ninety, which was the operating personal wastewater treatment plants. Miss Emily Dong, recommendation is to advise and consent on the nominee. Members questions, comments, if not seven ninety advise and consent.

With Senator Fevella notice as as the excuse, all other Members present, Any reservations? Any no votes? Recommendation adopted. Okay.

Thank you everybody for being here.