STAND. COM. REP. NO.880

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 774

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 774, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SMOKING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to expand the areas where smoking is prohibited to include all areas in airports except segregated areas that are completely enclosed and designated as smoking areas. These areas may not be constructed using public moneys.

The Department of Health (DOH), Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, and the American Cancer Society of Hawaii Pacific, Inc. testified in support of this bill. The Airlines Committee of Hawaii opposed this bill.

Your Committee finds that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a harmful health hazard which affects nonsmoking individuals causing nearly 53,000 deaths annually nationwide. ETS smoke is the third leading cause of death in the United States today.

ETS has been classified as a class A carcinogen and contains nearly 5000 chemical compounds. Because ETS enters the atmosphere unfiltered and comes from combustion that occurs at a lower temperature than that which occurs when a smoker inhales on a cigarette, it contains more carcinogens and toxins than smoke inhaled directly by a smoker.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by deleting the substance, and inserting therefor, the substance of H.B. 132, H.D.1., which was heard by your Committee earlier. In essence, this bill, as amended:

(1) Requires employers with two or more employees to adopt a smoking policy;

(2) Prohibits smoking in enclosed areas of private workplaces and state-owned or state-controlled workplaces including all state-owned or state-leased vehicles;

(3) Establishes the designation of smoking areas as negotiable for employees subject to collective bargaining;

(4) Exempts from paragraphs (2) and (3):

(a) Dining areas of restaurants and bars;

(b) Meeting or banquet rooms in hotels when used for private functions;

(c) The convention center when used for private functions; and

(d) Hotel guest rooms, and residential accommodations in buildings owned, leased or rented by the State; and

(5) Exempts from the laws relating to smoking in public places or in the workplace:

(a) Workplaces located in private residences unless otherwise prohibited; and

(b) Residential accommodations in buildings controlled by the State.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 774, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 774, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Transportation.

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

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair