STAND. COM. REP. NO.  397

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 573

      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 Public Safety & Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 573 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISASTER WARNINGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to improve disaster preparedness effort to ensure widespread and timely communication to inform the public of dangerous situations by requiring:

(1)  Cellular telephone service providers to text message their customers in the event of a disaster; and

(2)  Biannual testing of this service in conjuction with the Department of Defense (DOD).

     Several members of the deaf community supported this bill.  T-Mobile USA, Inc., and Cingular Wireless opposed this measure.  DOD and a concerned individual submitted comments on this bill.

     Your Committee finds more needs to be done to ensure that information is provided to the greatest majority of the public as possible in the event of a disaster.  Your Committee is also aware of efforts by the federal government to improve such communications through its Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act, which provides, among other things, that the National Alert System will:

(1)  Enable any federal, state, tribal, or local government official with credentials issued by the National Alert Office to alert the public to any imminent threat that presents a significant risk of injury or death to the public;

(2)  Be coordinated with and supplement existing federal, state, tribal, and local emergency warning and alert systems;

(3)  Be flexible enough in its application to permit narrowly targeted alerts in circumstances in which only a small geographic area is exposed or potentially exposed to the threat; and

(4)  Transmit alerts across the greatest possible variety of communications technologies, including digital and analog broadcasts, cable and satellite television, satellite and terrestrial radio, wireless communications, wireline communications, and the Internet to reach the largest portion of the affected population.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by changing its effective date to July 1, 2015.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 573, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 573, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs,

____________________________

CINDY EVANS, Chair