HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	106
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging the Department of Public Safety AND DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES to institute a complete ban on smoking in all state correctional facilities.

     WHEREAS, secondhand smoke causes heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, lung cancer, and other diseases in healthy nonsmokers; and

     WHEREAS, recent research demonstrates heightened health dangers to those exposed to secondhand smoke, since Hawaii passed a statewide anti-smoking statute 19 years ago; and

     WHEREAS, in 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory to persons with heart disease to avoid indoor settings where smoking is allowed, which warranted increased protections in the workplace and for the public in general; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature passed a comprehensive new law, Act 295, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006 (Act 295), banning smoking in places open to the public and places of employment to ensure a consistent level of basic protections statewide from exposure to secondhand smoke; and

     WHEREAS, Act 295, however, provided an exemption for state correctional facilities; and

     WHEREAS, smoking in prison is delivering toxic chemicals to a, literally, captive audience; and

     WHEREAS, inmates who choose not to smoke are unable to remove themselves from areas where smokers are and guards cannot abandon their posts to avoid the secondhand smoke; and

     WHEREAS, inmates incarcerated in Hawaii's jails and prisons and the employees who guard them also deserve protection from the lethal effects of secondhand smoke; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Public Safety and Department of Human Services are urged to institute a complete ban on smoking in all state correctional facilities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Public Safety, Director of Human Services, and Director of Health.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Smoking; State Correctional Facilities