STAND. COM. REP. NO. 428

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 601
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Judiciary,
to which was referred S.B. No. 601 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committees, is
to establish a substance abuse policy council within the Office
of the Governor to develop statewide policy regarding education,
prevention, and treatment programs.

     Your Committees find that substance abuse and its attendant
problems has risen to a level of epidemic proportion that needs
to be addressed in a comprehensive manner within our State.
However, your Committees note that statewide policy and
interagency collaboration is non-existent, and the efforts of the
several state agencies to address substance abuse have been
fragmented.  In order to effectively address this growing problem
and eliminate fragmentation of the State's efforts, your
Committees believe that there is an urgent need to establish a
state-level integrated policy council to develop statewide policy
and identify funding sources for substance abuse education,
intervention and treatment programs and services.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Office of Youth Services, the Community Alliance on Prisons and
one private citizen.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was
submitted by the Department of Health and the Hawaii Substance

 
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Abuse Coalition.  Testimony with comments was submitted by the
Libertarian Party of Hawaii.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the membership of the substance abuse policy
          council to add the mayors from each county, add the
          chair of a community alliance advisory committee, and
          delete all other community members;

     (2)  Designating the Governor as the chair of the policy
          council and requiring the council to meet not less than
          once per month;

     (3)  Requiring the policy council to establish and appoint
          members of the community to serve in an advisory
          capacity to assist the council in the development of
          the statewide integrated substance abuse policy;

     (4)  Repealing the duties of the Department of Health with
          regard to the development of a state substance abuse
          plan;
.
     (5)  Requiring the Department of Health to submit an annual
          report to the policy council detailing its progress in
          the implementation of the statewide master plan adopted
          by the policy council;

     (6)  Repealing the duties of the Department of Public Safety
          and other agencies to establish an advisory board to
          implement the provisions of the Criminal Offender
          Treatment Act; and

     (7)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Health and Human Services and Judiciary that are
attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the
intent and purpose of S.B. No. 601, as amended herein, and
recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto
as S.B. No. 601, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 428
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Health and Human
                                   Services and Judiciary,



____________________________       ______________________________
Avery B. Chumbley, Chair           Suzanne Chun Oakland, Chair




____________________________
Matthew M. Matsunaga, Chair

 
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