STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3221

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 41

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 41 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT A SUNRISE REVIEW OF THE INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE, SAFETY, AND HEALTH PHYSICS PROFESSIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide regulation and licensing requirements of individuals purporting to be experts in the control of workplace hazards by requesting the Auditor to conduct a sunrise review of the industrial hygiene, safety, and health physics professions.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA).

     Your Committee finds that increasing workplace hazards require a new breed of professionals who can recognize, evaluate, and control these workplace hazards such as methamphetamine laboratories, mold invasion, radon, and asbestos, and the continued threat of other hazards such as the pandemic flu, and biological and nuclear terrorism.  It is imperative that individuals purporting to be experts in the control of workplace hazards meet minimum educational standards and experience requirements prior to holding themselves out as occupational and environmental health and safety professionals.

     S.B. No. 2075 (2008) proposes to regulate the industrial hygiene, safety, and health physics professions, which are presently unregulated.  However, pursuant to section 26H-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, before new regulatory measures can be enacted that would subject unregulated professions and vocations to licensing or other regulatory controls, the Auditor is required to conduct a sunrise review of the proposed regulation.  Thus, requesting the Auditor to conduct a sunrise review of the industrial hygiene, safety, and health physics professions complies with this statutory requirement.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting the appropriate legislative bill number to correctly refer to it in this measure for analysis.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 41, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 41, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing,

____________________________

RUSSELL S. KOKUBUN, Chair