STAND. COM. REP. NO.  876

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 1406

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1406 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A MINOR,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to protect minors from the harmful effects of drugs by expanding the offenses of endangering the welfare of a minor in the first and second degrees to include situations in which a person having care or custody of a minor allows the minor to inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise use any controlled substance that was not prescribed by a doctor.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this bill from the Honolulu Police Department, Department of Public Safety, Department of the Attorney General, and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.  The Office of the Public Defender opposed this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2112, to

          encourage further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style,

          clarity, and consistency.

     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. 1406, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1406, H.D. 1.

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

____________________________

TOMMY WATERS, Chair