STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3098

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1886

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1886, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIRE PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize moneys in the Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Program Special Fund to be used to defray the costs of statewide fire prevention, education, life safety, and preparedness programs, including the hiring of administrative personnel.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that the primary mission of the State Fire Council is to develop and support a comprehensive fire service emergency management network for the protection of life, property, and the environment for the State. Your Committee notes that despite the scope of its responsibilities, the State Fire Council has been historically underfunded and until 2001, the Council had no funding for staff to fulfill its responsibilities. While the establishment of the Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Program Special Fund has helped the Council defray the activities of the Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Program, the State Fire Council is currently prohibited from utilizing the Special Fund for activities outside the scope of the Program. Your Committee concludes that the Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Program Special Fund should be utilized by the State Fire Council to carry out other statewide fire prevention programs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the functions of the State Fire Council to include implementing statewide fire prevention, education, life safety, and preparedness programs;

(2) Inserting language to clarify that the administrative personnel that may be hired using funds from the Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Program Special Fund are exempt from chapter 76 and 89, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(3) 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 Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1886, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1886, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair