STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1505

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 108

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.R. No. 108, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING HAWAII RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES TO COMPLY WITH THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA AND NOT TO BUY OR SELL IVORY OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN THAT MAY HAVE BEEN ILLEGALLY SMUGGLED INTO THE STATE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge Hawaii residents and businesses to comply with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and not to buy or sell ivory of unknown origin that may have been illegally smuggled into the State.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Humane Society of the United States, and three individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that African elephants and rhinoceroses are being hunted to extinction due to the high price of ivory.  The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora, adopted by the United States, banned the sale of African elephant ivory in 1989.  Despite international and national bans, your Committee finds that one-third of ivory products sold in the United States have illegal origins.

 

     According to an investigation conducted on behalf of Care for the Wild International in 2008, the United States is one of the world's leading ivory markets and fails to comply with CITES regulations and its own domestic laws.  Large quantities of worked ivory from China are illegally imported to the United States by individuals and through the Internet.  According to that same report, in a survey of sixteen American cities between March to December 2006 and March to May 2007, almost half of the total ivory items for sale were found in New York City, followed by San Francisco and Greater Los Angeles.  Honolulu had twenty-three outlets selling ivory with a minimum of 1,867 ivory items for sale.

 

     Your Committee notes that ivory from elephant tusks are mainly used for carvings for decorative purposes, while uses for rhinoceros horns may also include medicinal purposes.  Furthermore, while a rhinoceros does not need to be killed for its horn, poachers need to kill an elephant for its tusks.  As such, this measure assists in protecting African elephants and rhinoceroses from extinction and ensures compliance with CITES as it relates to the ban on the sale of ivory products in the State.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 108, S.D. 1, and recommends its adoption.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair