STAND. COM. REP. NO. 587

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1073

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Health and Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1073 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure a healthy work environment for correctional facility employees by repealing the exemption that permits smoking in correctional facilities.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, the Department of Public Safety, the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, and the American Lung Association.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Community Alliance on Prisons.

     Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committees find that most states across the nation have already implemented smoke-free prison systems that have created a healthier environment for inmates and staff alike, reducing the risk of tobacco related diseases.

     Your Committees further find that the correctional facilities in Hawaii already prohibit smoking by inmates.  This measure provides the next positive step by creating a healthier work environment for everyone at the facility.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050 to encourage further discussion on the matter.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Public Safety and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1073, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1073, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Public Safety and Military Affairs,

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair