SR 51 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT AND THE STATE AGENCIES COMPRISING THE STATE'S PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM TO COOPERATE MORE CLOSELY TO DETERMINE THE NECESSARY ACTIONS TO EXPEDITE THE HIRING AND FILLING OF CRITICAL VACANCIES, INCLUDING SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS THE OBSTACLES AND CHALLENGES UNIQUE TO THE MENTAL HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE.

This Senate Resolution requests Hawaii's Department of Human Resources Development to coordinate with mental health agencies (including Health, Human Services, Corrections, Education, and the Judiciary) to address critical workforce shortages. It aims to identify practical solutions for expediting hiring of mental health professionals by tackling obstacles like outdated recruitment policies, stigma, and burnout. The resolution does not create new laws but asks agencies to collaborate on specific actions to fill vacancies affecting public mental health care services.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 7, 2025 Last action Apr 2, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SR51 → SR51_SD1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill was reformatted from a traditional legislative document to a structured digital template, with substantive changes to the resolution's language and recipients. The original resolution requested cooperation between the Department of Human Resources Development and state agencies, while the new version expands this request to include direct cooperation with the state agencies themselves. The resolution's recipients were also expanded to include additional department directors and the Chief Justice.

Scope change

The resolution's scope was expanded to include direct cooperation requests to state agencies (rather than just DHRD cooperating with agency HR units) and the list of recipients was expanded to include additional department heads and the Chief Justice.

REQUIREMENT

Changed the cooperation request from DHRD working with agency HR units to DHRD and state agencies cooperating directly

Expanded resolution recipients to include Directors of Health, Human Services, Superintendent of Education, Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and Chief Justice

TECHNICAL

Added digital metadata fields including author names, timestamps, and document identifiers

Removed traditional legislative header formatting and replaced with structured digital document template

Changed document numbering from 'S.R. NO. 51' to 'SR51 SD1' with additional version identifiers

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Apr 1, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported from LBT (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1435) with recommendation of adoption, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Mar 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on LBT recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in LBT were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Aquino, Lee, C., Moriwaki; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Ihara, Fevella.

upper

Mar 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on LBT has scheduled a public hearing on 03-24-25 3:00PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 11, 2025

Committee

Referred to LBT.

upper

Mar 7, 2025

Introduced

Offered.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors