Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 646 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to decriminalize the sale of sterile syringes to persons who may use them for the injection of illicit drugs. More specifically, this bill:

Supportive testimony was submitted by DOH; Hawaii Medical Association; Hawaii Pharmacists Association; Department of Public Health Sciences and Epidemiology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii; AIDS Community Care Team; Hawaii HIV Prevention Community Planning Group; Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.; Community Health Outreach Work to Prevent AIDS; Life Foundation; Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii; Governor's Committee on HIV/AIDS; Gregory House Programs; and Hawaii Nurses Association.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and the Honolulu Police Department.

Your Committee acknowledges that the sharing of hypodermic needles poses a significant health hazard to the citizens of our State. This practice has been proven to be a major cause of the spread of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and other fatal diseases. Proponents of the bill have argued that by making sterile syringes accessible, the need to share hypodermic needles will be diminished, thus reducing the proliferation of communicable diseases.

After careful consideration, your Committee has amended the bill by:

1. Requiring the Director of Health to develop and implement a system of disposing used syringes received from the public. DOH informed your Committee that a similar system was implemented in the State of New York shortly after the enactment of a law similar to this bill. Based on the New York experience, DOH believes such a system could be implemented in Hawaii at minimal cost within existing budgetary limits;
2. Requiring the Director of Health to develop and implement a system of tracking newly-purchased syringes that enter the State's Needle Exchange Program. This information will be used to determine whether used syringes are properly disposed of;
3. Requiring the Director of Health to submit a report on the implementation of the disposal and tracking systems before the 2002 legislative session. It is the intent of your Committee that no syringes be purchased in accordance with this bill unless the Legislature is fully satisfied that the Director of Health has systems in place to monitor and ensure the proper disposal of used syringes. These systems should be funded totally within DOH's operating budget, and no additional general fund appropriations should be made for this purpose;
4. Providing that the bill takes effect on approval but limiting the sale of syringes to the period between July 1, 2002, and July 1, 2004, to ensure that:

(a) DOH has enough time to develop and implement systems to track syringes and for used syringe disposal prior to the start of the program; and

(b) The Legislature has an opportunity to reexamine the effectiveness of the program and its consequences;

and

5. Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, conformity, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 646, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 646, H.D. 1.