Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred H.B. No. 2551 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to allow hunting with handguns as a permanent activity in Hawaii by repealing the five-year sunset provision in Act 254, Session Laws of Hawaii (SLH) 1997, as amended.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Hawaii Citizens' Rights, the Hawaii Hunting Advisory Council, Pig Hunters of Hawaii, the National Wild Turkey Federation – Hawaii State Chapter, Big Island Gun Dogs, and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure.

Act 254, SLH 1997, authorized DLNR to establish rules for persons to carry an unconcealed and lawfully acquired pistol while hunting game mammals. Act 254 also established a sunset date of June 30, 2000, to allow DLNR to adopt rules and to establish a trial period for handgun hunting to evaluate the effects of these new provisions. In 2000, the Legislature extended the sunset date to June 30, 2002.

Your Committee finds that the trial period has proven successful. To date, DLNR has not encountered any safety incidents or problems. Moreover, the hunting community supports making handgun hunting a permanent provision in the law. And according to hunter checking station data, up to 25 percent of hunters bring a handgun on some hunts.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2551 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.