STAND. COM. REP. NO. 872

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 166
                                        S.D. 2




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No.
166, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE
     TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND TOBACCO PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the distribution of
samples of, or coupons, for cigarettes or tobacco products on any
public street, sidewalk, park, or within one thousand feet from
any elementary, intermediate, or high school.

     Your Committee finds that cigarette smoking is Hawaii's and
the nation's number one preventable cause of morbidity and
mortality.  In Hawaii, those casualties represent sixteen percent
or over 1,200 lives lost and $238 million in economic losses.
Your Committee recognizes that the number of cigarettes consumed
annually by about three million minors in the United States has
been estimated conservatively at 516 million packs, at least half
of which are sold illegally to minors.  Your Committee further
finds that as tobacco companies compete for shares of a shrinking
domestic market, advertisements and promotions have intensified,
the tobacco industry spending in excess of $6 billion on ads and
promotions.  Your Committee believes that more aggressive
measures are needed to counteract the social forces that continue
to induce Hawaii's young people to use tobacco products.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Honolulu

 
a                                                     
                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 872
                                   Page 2


Police Department, the American Lung Association of Hawaii, the
American Heart Association, Hawaii Nurses Association, and five
graduate students in the School of Social Work program.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
bill by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the distribution of sample tobacco
          products or tobacco promotional materials is prohibited
          during regular school hours; 

     (2)  Deleting all references to coupons; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
166, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 166, S.D. 2.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
a