STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1428

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 525

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 525, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE PARKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Prohibit smoking and the use of tobacco products and electronic smoking devices within the state park system; and

     (2)  Require posting of signage prohibiting smoking and the use of tobacco products.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, University of Hawaii System, Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, Surfrider Foundation, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii, and fifty-six individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Smokers Alliance and sixty-seven individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committee finds that creating smoke-free or tobacco-free parks is an important step toward protecting the public from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke and the toxic effects of smoking and tobacco litter.  A ban on smoking and the use of tobacco products at all state parks will result in cleaner parks and a healthier environment for residents, visitors, and marine life.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting language suggested by the Department of Land and Natural Resources that:

          (A)  Allows the Department to designate exclusive use areas that are not subject to the smoking ban at state parks; and

          (B)  Deletes language that required specific words to be placed on clearly legible signs to be conspicuously posted at each park;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2015; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 525, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 525, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair