After years of unsuccessful tries, state lawmakers are poised to pass a deal that would eventually transform the Maui Memorial Medical Center and two other state-owned medical facilities into privately managed entities.

House and Senate conferees voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the latest draft of House Bill 1075. It’s a step to allow nonprofit Hawaii Pacific Health — or possibly another private group — to take control of the facilities in Maui County.

The House and Senate are expected to vote on the new draft later this week, and leaders there say they’re confident that they’ve got the votes to send it to Gov. David Ige for his signature.

"We’ve been at this for years," Wesley Lo, Maui region chief executive officer for the state’s Hawaii Health Systems Corp., said Tuesday after the conference committee vote. "We’ve actually gotten farther than we’ve ever gotten before."

Lo said that partnering with a private manager would resolve much of the uncertainty regarding health care in Maui County, where the hospital system faces a $28 million budget cut next year. The effects of those cuts would be "devastating" to the 45,000 people who receive hospital services there a day, he added.

The Legislature actually had been set to pass the hospital bill last week without conference and send it to the governor’s office for a signature, but Ige then publicly intervened and asked the lawmakers to take more time to hash out the details.

The United Public Workers and the Hawaii Government Employees Association have strongly opposed HB 1075, citing concerns for their members’ job security and questions over how the state would pay for the deal. Representatives for HGEA were unavailable for comment after the conference vote late Tuesday.

On Tuesday, legislators stressed several key changes to the latest draft — including a provision that would guarantee hospital employees their jobs for at least six months after a deal goes through.

Union officials had previously flagged the removal of that provision as a main concern.

The state now pays about $100 million per year to support the hospital network operated by the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., including the Maui and Lanai facilities, and lawmakers want to reduce those costs.

The Maui region of Hawaii Health Systems Corp. has been working with the nonprofit Hawaii Pacific Health for the past six months on an in-depth review of the hospitals to prepare for a possible takeover by Hawaii Pacific.

However, there could be other interested parties, and the bill’s latest version would require the state-run system to consider other potential candidates.

A previous bill version defined groups eligible for the task as those "duly established under the laws of the state." The latest version defines them as those "duly authorized to transact business in the state."

That tweak comes after local Kaiser Permanente officials petitioned state Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua Kona) and state Rep. Della Au Belatti (D, Moiliili-Makiki-Tantalus) to make such a change.

In an April 22 letter to the Legislature’s two Health Committee chairmen, Kaiser officials Phyllis Dendle and Frank Richardson said they aimed to ensure that "all health care providers currently providing service in Hawaii" have the opportunity available to manage the Maui County facilities.

"Right now we are acting on the only proposal that we got, which is from Hawaii Pacific Health," Lo said Tuesday.

"We had talked to Kaiser previously," he added.

It could be another six months to a year before any partnership on the health care facilties takes effect, Lo said.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Kevin Dayton contributed to this report.