Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 170 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to call on the United States House of Representatives to support House Resolution 4259, the Veterans' Right to Know Act, which would create a commission to investigate incidents of U.S. military chemical and biological testing.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Defense Office of Veterans Services, Radiated Veterans of America, Inc., We Are All Downwinders, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that military chemical and biological testing has adversely affected the health and well-being of servicemen, servicewomen, and their families, often when they did not even know the risks associated with the testing, and the extent of their own exposure. Your Committee finds that these servicemen, servicewomen, and their families have a right to know as much as possible about the testing, especially those who now suffer, and have inherited over subsequent generations, serious health ailments due to contaminant exposure. In addition, residents of testing areas both at the time of testing, and those currently inhabiting areas that may still pose certain health concerns, possess a similar right to know what kinds of tests were conducted, and the nature of the risks they were exposed to by the testing activities.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 170 and recommends its adoption.