STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2285

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2434
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Health and Human Services,
to which was referred S.B. No. 2434 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 is Hawaii's most
pressing public health problem.  Department of Health studies
show that approximately 82,000 adults and over 16,000 students
(grades 6 through 12) are in need of substance abuse treatment.
Studies also indicate that 90 percent of child welfare service
clients and over 80 percent of the criminal justice population
are also in need of substance abuse treatment.  Your Committees
further find that people in need of substance abuse treatment
have been on treatment waiting lists for as long as ten years,
with an average of 150 to 300 adult and adolescent clients per
day waiting to get into treatment.  In addition, your Committees
realize that state funding for community-based substance abuse
treatment has declined in recent years.

     Your Committees recognize that there exists no effective
statewide drug control policy or interagency collaborative
effort.  The individual efforts of the several state agencies to
address substance abuse are fragmented and are not sufficiently

 
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addressing this growing social disease.  In order to address this
fragmentation, your Committees believe that there is an urgent
need to establish a substance abuse multi-agency council to
assist with the development of a statewide integrated substance
abuse treatment and prevention policy. 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of Public Safety, the Hawaii Paroling Authority, the
Office of Youth Services, the American Civil Liberties Union of
Hawaii, Community Alliance on Prisons, Drug Policy Forum of
Hawaii, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, TJ Mahoney &
Associates, and a concerned individual.  Testimony in opposition
to this measure was submitted by the Legislative Center, the
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Retail Liquor
Dealers, Volcano Winery, the Wine Institute, Hawaii Liquor
Wholesalers Association, and Brown & Williamson Tobacco
Corporation.  

     The Department of Health and Out of Prison Services
submitted testimony in support of the intent of the bill but had
concerns about creating a new legislatively mandated substance
abuse policy council and attaching it to the Office of the
Governor, without the necessary accountability that goes along
with the responsibilities assigned to existing departments and
agencies.

     The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and
County of Honolulu and the Office of the Public Defender
submitted comments regarding the proposed use of the drug demand
reduction assessment funds.  The Judiciary and the Department of
Accounting and General Services voiced concerns over various
provisions within the bill.

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

     (1)  Deleting the substance abuse policy council within the
          governor's office and creating instead a substance
          abuse multi-agency coordinating council to be
          administratively attached to the department of health;

     (2)  Revising the duties and responsibilities of the
          substance abuse multi-agency coordinating council to
          reflect its new purpose;

     (3)  Providing for an unspecified increase in the tobacco
          and alcohol tax, with ten percent of such revenues
          earmarked for substance abuse treatment programs;


 
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     (4)  Providing that twenty-five percent of the tobacco
          settlement moneys appropriated into the emergency and
          budget reserve fund under section 328L-3 shall be
          earmarked for the substance abuse programs revolving
          fund;

     (5)  Inserting the contents of S.B. 2936, relating to
          integrated case management and substance abuse
          treatment continuum; and

     (6)  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 Judiciary and Health and Human Services that are
attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the
intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2434, as amended herein, and
recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto
as S.B. No. 2434, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on JUDICIARY and
                                   HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,



____________________________       ______________________________
SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair        AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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