STAND. COM. REP. NO. 306-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: H.B. No. 2365
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2365 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOBACCO,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to deter the distribution of untaxed cigarettes via telephone, mail order, or the Internet by:
(1) Creating a new offense of unlawful shipment of cigarettes;
(2) Adding and amending definitions to the Cigarette Tax and Tobacco Tax Law to eliminate existing loopholes; and
(3) Clarifying the seizure and confiscation powers of the Department of the Attorney General.
Delivery services that are not complicit to tobacco tax evasion are not subject to penalty under this measure.
The Department of the Attorney General, American Heart Association, and the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii testified in support of this bill. The Hawaii Food Industry Association supported the intent of this measure.
Your Committee believes this measure will compel out-of-state Internet, mail order, and telephone vendors to comply with Hawaii's tobacco tax laws and will reduce the availability of low-priced cigarettes to underage smokers.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Adding a savings clause; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2365, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2365, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,
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____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair |
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