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Senate committees back $1.5M plan to expand healthcare workforce training for entry-level roles
Summary
HB 7-14 received broad support from healthcare providers and education partners; committees recommended passing the bill with amendments and noted a funding request of roughly $1.5 million over two years (about $750,000 per program per year).
Senate committees on Health, Human Services and Economic Development & Tourism advanced HB 7-14, a measure to fund and expand healthcare workforce-development programs targeted at high-school students and entry-level nursing roles.
Hilton Raitl of Healthcare Association Hawaii described program performance: last year programs served more than 100 public high-school students across 14 schools with a 98% completion rate and a 75% employment rate following training. He said the committee's funding request is "just under 1,500,000 for 2 years," describing two programs at roughly $750,000 per program per year.
Support also came from community colleges, the University of Hawaii system, Kaiser/Queen’s Health Systems, AlohaCare and other healthcare employers noting workforce shortages and pipeline impacts. The committees agreed to pass the bill with amendments, note the blank appropriation on the bill text, and reflect the requested appropriations ($750,000 per program per year) in the committee report; the chair's recommendation and the economic-development committee's concurrence were adopted on the record.
Next steps: staff will prepare committee-report language indicating the appropriation request and amendments, and the bill will move forward to subsequent legislative steps.
