STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2555

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2175

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2175 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISPOSABLE ELECTRONIC SMOKING DEVICES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to, beginning January 1, 2027, prohibit selling, offering for sale, or distributing certain disposable electronic smoking devices.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii COPD Coalition, AlohaCare, Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute, Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaiʻi Youth Council, University of Hawaiʻi Student Health Advisory Council, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center, Hamakua-Kohala Health, and thirty individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committees find that nicotine is a highly addictive drug and can impact the developing brains of adolescents and young adults. Your Committees further find that tobacco-related disease continues to be the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, resulting in four hundred eighty thousand deaths annually, with one thousand four hundred of those deaths happening each year in the State. Additionally, disposable, single-use electronic devices constitute a public health hazard as these products are made of non-biodegradable plastic containing nicotine and other hazardous chemicals. This measure will prohibit the sale certain disposable electronic smoking devices to improve the health of the State's communities.

Your Committees have amended this measure by 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 Human Services 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. 2175, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2175, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair