STAND. COM. REP. NO. 373

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1030

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 1030 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Increase the minimum age for persons who may purchase tobacco products or electronic smoking devices from eighteen to twenty-one years of age;

     (2)  Amend the definition of "electronic smoking device" as used in section 709-908, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

     (3)  Define "tobacco products" as used in section 709-908, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Honolulu Police Department, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, Hawaii Public Health Association, University of Hawaii Student Health Advisory Council, and forty-nine individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Volcano Fine Electronic Cigarettes, PC Gamerz, and twelve individuals.

     Your Committees find that the use of e-cigarettes is prevalent among adolescents in Hawaii.  According to recent figures from six Hawaii high schools, among the ninth and tenth grade students, twenty-nine percent have used e-cigarettes at least once and eighteen percent use them regularly.  This sample's rate of e-cigarette use is considerably higher than rates in current studies of adolescents in other areas of the United States.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting findings that discuss the high rate of e‑cigarette use in Hawaii and other concerns;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1030, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1030, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair