STAND. COM. REP. NO. 697

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 604
                                        S.D. 2




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 604, S.D. 1, entitled:

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to allow the Administrator of
the Narcotics Enforcement Division of the Department of Public
Safety to share information from the electronic prescription
accountability system with "dispensers", or practitioners who
dispense controlled substances, when the information relates to
the dispenser's own patients.

     In addition, this bill:

     (1)  Appears to allow the disclosure of investigative
          information from the electronic prescription
          accountability system for criminal investigations and
          prosecutions outside the respective jurisdictions of
          law enforcement officers and law enforcement agencies;
          and

     (2)  Appropriates funds to the Department of Public Safety
          for a data processing systems analyst IV position and
          other current expenses in relation to the sharing of
          information from the electronic prescription
          accountability system with dispensers.

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 697
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     Your Committee finds that "dispensers", or practitioners who
dispense controlled substances, are the State's first and most
effective line of defense in the ongoing battle against
prescription drug abuse and the illegal dispensing of controlled
substances.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Limiting the disclosure of investigative information
          from the electronic prescription accountability system
          to criminal investigations and prosecutions within the
          respective jurisdictions of law enforcement officers
          and law enforcement agencies;

     (2)  Deleting the appropriation to the Department of Public
          Safety for the data processing systems analyst IV
          position and other current expenses; and

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of
          style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
604, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 604, S.D. 2.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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