STAND. COM. REP. NO. 33

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 132

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 132 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SMOKING IN THE WORKPLACE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to require employers with two or more employees to adopt a smoking policy. It also prohibits smoking in enclosed areas of state-owned or state-controlled workplaces and all state-owned or state-leased vehicles. However, dining areas of restaurants, bars, and hotel guest rooms are exempt from this measure as well as smoking in residential accomodations in buildings owned, leased, or rented by the State.

Your Committee recognized that:

(1) Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major public health hazard;

(2) The workplace exposed people to ETS four times greater than the typical household; and

(3) Persons generally spent approximately one-third of their lifetime in the workplace.

Moreover, your Committee finds that existing state statute regarding smoking in the workplace, which was

passed in 1987, is obsolete and may pose a significant health risk to workers.

Testimony is support of this measure was received from the Department of Health and the Department of Accounting and General Services. The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii supported the intent of the measure but was concerned that the measure did not adequately protect the worker from exposure to ETS. They believed that the bill should be strengthened to include all enclosed workplaces without exception.

The Hawaii Business League voiced its opposition to the bill feeling that current laws and regulations negatively impacted on smaller businesses and that these smoking policies and regulations were irrelevant, unenforceable, and increased workloads, especially on small businesses. The United Public Workers Union (UPW) also opposed this measure, as written, feeling that there was conflict with previously established collective bargaining agreements. However, the UPW did recommend that language regarding the collective bargaining agreements be added to this bill.

After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that references an obsolete premise of accommodating smokers within an enclosed workplace since this language was contradictory to the protections proposed by the bill; and

(2) Adding language to reflect the concerns of the UPW and their collective bargaining agreements.

Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made for purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 132, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 132, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Economic Development and Business Concerns and Labor and Public Employment.

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

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair