STAND. COM. REP. NO.  822-14

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2577

      H.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2577, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC HOUSING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to prohibit smoking anywhere in a public housing project, except in a designated smoking area not less than 20 feet from any building or common area, by:

 

(1)  Requiring any lease, rental agreement, permit, or license to have a provision that prohibits smoking by tenants and guests anywhere in the public housing project;

 

(2)  Making the violation of the smoking prohibition grounds for termination and eviction; and

 

(3)  Requiring the Authority to adopt rules for the administration of the prohibition on smoking.

 

     The Department of Health, Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this measure.  The Hawaii Chapter of the Community Associations Institute testified in opposition to this measure.  Hawaii Public Housing Authority provided comments on this measure.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Requiring that the designated smoking areas, if any, be located no less than 25 feet from any building, instead of not less than 20 feet from any building or common area; and

 

(2)  Making the Hawaii Public Housing Authority's rulemaking authority permissive instead of mandatory.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2577, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2577, H.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair