STAND. COM. REP. NO. 453

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1283

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1283 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII TOBACCO SETTLEMENT SPECIAL FUND,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to support the new medical school facility in Kakaako.

     The measure accomplishes this goal by authorizing the use of the Tobacco Settlement Special Fund, created by Act 304, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999, to help pay annual operating expenses incurred by the new medical school facility.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.  The University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine submitted testimony supporting the intent of this measure.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health, the Department of Budget and Finance, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawai‘i, and the American Heart Association.

     Your Committees find that the new medical school facility in Kakaako may require additional funding to ensure its successful operation.  Your Committees further find that the Legislature appropriated funds for the initial set-up of the new medical facility, with the understanding that the school would be self-supporting thereafter.

     Thus, your Committees request that the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine supply the Committees with information justifying the funding requested in this measure.

     Your Committees amended this measure by changing the effective date to encourage further discussion, and by making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1283, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1283, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Education,

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair