STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1791

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.C.R. No. 112

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 112 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION DECLARING RACISM AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to declare racism as a public health crisis.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine, Community Alliance on Prisons, Hawai‘i Health and Harm Reduction Center, Rainbow Family 808, Young Progressives Demanding Action, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, Spoehr Foundation, American Heart Association, Hawai‘i Public Health Association, YWCA O‘ahu, Waimānalo Health Center, Hawai‘i Pacific University College of Health and Society, Imua Alliance, Democratic Party of Hawai‘i Education Caucus, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Papa Ola Lōkahi, and thirty-five individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Common Cause Hawaii and one individual.

Your Committee finds that racism is the belief, theory, or doctrine that a certain race of people is inherently superior to people from other racial groups, race is therefore a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities, and racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Your Committee further finds that racism's influence on public health has been recognized by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health, Judiciary, Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, Papa Ola Lōkahi, ‘Ahahui o Nā Kauka, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, and many others. Your Committee additionally finds that to best accomplish the Hawai‘i State Planning Act's objective of the "elimination of health disparities by identifying and addressing social determinants of health", institutionalized racism and racist policies must be dismantled.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Recognizing the importance of operationalizing antiracist practices and policies through educational opportunities, training, and continued learning with national networks of government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all;

(2) Expressing a commitment to understanding and addressing systemic racism;

(3) Expanding contextual information on the impacts of individual, institutional, structural, and systemic racism; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 112, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 112, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair