STAND. COM. REP. NO. 377

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 613
                                        S.D. 1




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which
was referred S.B. No. 613 entitled: 

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

begs leave to report as follows:
     
     The purpose of this measure is to create a statewide
licensure mechanism for retail tobacco sales that provides for
licensing retail tobacco vendors, inspections and enforcement,
adjudication of fines and penalties, training and education for
retail merchants, and public awareness of the State's law
governing the sale of tobacco to minors.

     The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii and Legislative
Information Services of Hawaii, while not present, submitted
written testimony in support of the intent of the measure, with
recommendations for amendments.

     One of the Healthy Hawai`i Year 2000 objectives is to reduce
tobacco use among youth so that no more than fifteen percent are
smoking by age eighteen.  This is a tremendous challenge, since
the 1997 Hawai`i Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the
Department of Education found that thirty-four percent of twelfth
graders and nearly twenty-seven percent of ninth graders are
regular smokers.

     Reducing youth access to tobacco products is an instrumental
component in reducing youth tobacco use, and compliance by
merchants is of utmost importance.  This measure addresses a

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 377
                                   Page 2


critical health issue for Hawaii's young people, their families,
and the public in general.

     Your Committee has amended this measure to delete the
appropriations sections, and to make technical amendments to
conform to the language of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of S.B. No. 613, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B.
No. 613, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Commerce and
                                   Consumer Protection,



                                   ______________________________
                                   BRIAN KANNO, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair

 
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