STAND. COM. REP. NO. 868

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.C.R. No. 3

       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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 3 entitled:

 

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT TO RE-STATE THAT THE CONGRESSIONAL INTENT OF THE FEDERAL CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT IS NOT TO PROHIBIT THE PRODUCTION OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to encourage Congress and the President of the United States to re-state that the federal Uniform Controlled Substances Act, which restricts the production, possession, and use of marijuana, does not prohibit the production of industrial hemp.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Alexander and Baldwin, Inc.; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii; Natural Cancer Wellness Foundation; Life of the Land; and four individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that the legislative history of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 indicates that Congress never intended to prohibit the production of industrial hemp.  Industrial hemp is one of the most versatile, productive, and useful fiber plants.  Furthermore, industrial hemp is part of a growing trend to transform agricultural crops into new products that are economically and environmentally sound.  Your Committee finds that the production of industrial hemp in Hawaii would provide an economic stimulus for the local production of various products including food, medicine, clothing, rope, carpet, upholstery, lumber, and other construction and industrial materials.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment to the title; and

 

     (2)  Making other 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, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 3, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 3, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair