STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2832

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2497

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2497, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOBACCO REGULATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure continued tobacco regulation and enforcement of relevant tax laws.

 

     More specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Increases the annual license fee for persons engaged as a wholesaler or dealer of cigarettes or tobacco products from $2.50 to $250;

 

     (2)  Increases the annual retail tobacco permit fee for retailers engaged in the retail sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products from $20 to $50; and

 

     (3)  Specifies that revenue from the license and permit fees shall be used to support smoking cessation programs in the State.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii and the American Cancer Society Action Network.  Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Food Industry Association and the Hawaii Smokers Alliance.  Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation, Department of Health, and Department of Budget and Finance.

 

     Your Committee finds that the annual license and permit fees imposed by the State are relatively low when compared to other states that impose similar fees.  Your Committee also finds that the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund is an appropriate mechanism to fund tobacco cessation programs in the State.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the annual license and permit fees to unspecified amounts;

 

     (2)  Deleting the requirement that general revenues from the license and permit fees be used to support smoking cessation programs in the State, in recognition that expenditure of general revenues is subject to specific legislative appropriation, and not earmarking by statute;

 

     (3)  Replacing the deleted language with a requirement that revenues from the license and permit fees be deposited into the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund to ensure that the revenues are used for tobacco prevention and control programs, as provided in section 328L-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

 

     (4)  Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

     (5)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2497, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2497, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair