Report Title:

Requesting the Honolulu City Council to Declare Waikiki Beach a Smoke-free Area

WHEREAS, tourism is Hawaii's number one industry and the State depends on tourism to provide jobs and tax revenues; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii has justifiably earned a reputation as an environmentally friendly and healthy place in which to live and visit; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Waikiki Improvement Association, and other public and private organizations have expended considerable moneys and energy to enhance this reputation and develop Hawaii's eco-tourism and healthcare industries; and

WHEREAS, Waikiki Beach is a world-renowned symbol of Hawaii, and the State's most important tourist attraction, visited by 4.7 million people each year; and

WHEREAS, Waikiki Beach is also a highly popular place of recreation for local residents, with swimming, surfing, and sailing activities, among others; and

WHEREAS, because of the above factors, it is crucially necessary to maintain Waikiki Beach as a clean, attractive, inviting place to visit; and

WHEREAS, reportedly, in recent years, 170 million dollars has been spent by public and private entities to improve Waikiki, especially Waikiki Beach; and

WHEREAS, smoking threatens the beauty, cleanliness, and general attractiveness of Waikiki Beach, through the discarding of cigarette butts and the dropping of cigarette ashes on the sand; and

WHEREAS, smoking as well as second-hand smoke has been determined to be hazardous to people's health; and

WHEREAS, the beach at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve has been a smoke-free area under City Ordinance No. 93-92 since 1995, with highly positive effects as to the maintenance of cleanliness and the lack of second-hand smoke; and

WHEREAS, Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve officials report no decrease in attendance due to the smoking ban; and

WHEREAS, the cost of maintaining a cigarette butt-free beach is significant; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that the Legislature request the Council of the City and County of Honolulu to ban smoking on Waikiki Beach by adding "Waikiki Beach" to Ordinance 93-92, section 2, paragraph i; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, the Councilmembers of the City and County of Honolulu, the Director of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, the Executive Director of the Oahu Development Board, the Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the President and CEO of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, the Director of the Waikiki Improvement Association, the Chairperson of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, and the President of the Hawaii Hotel Association.