STAND. COM. REP. NO.  468

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 895

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 895 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TAX ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS OTHER THAN CIGARETTES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to deter the use of tobacco products other than cigarettes, including smokeless tobacco, snuff, cigars, and pipe tobacco by increasing the tobacco tax on such products from 40 percent to 60 percent of the wholesale price and requiring 33.3 percent of the proceeds collected to be deposited into the Community Health Centers Special Fund.

     The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, Hawaii Primary Care Association, American Lung Association of Hawaii, and American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific, Inc. supported this bill.  The American Heart Association of Hawaii supported the intent of this measure.  The Department of Budget and Finance and Cigar Association of Hawaii opposed this bill.  The Department of Taxation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii submitted comments.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by changing the effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 895, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 895, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair