STAND. COM. REP. NO. 84

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 173

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 173 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIRE PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the sale or distribution of novelty lighters within the State, and to define novelty lighter.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one state department and one county department.

     Your Committee finds that novelty cigarette lighters have features that are attractive to children, including visual effects, flashing lights, musical sounds, or toy-like designs.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled thousands of novelty lighters since 1996 due to their danger to public safety.  Fires started by juveniles have been identified as the fastest growing fire threat in the United States, resulting in more than three hundred people killed, a third of which are children.  Fires started by children have also resulted in almost $1,000,000,000 in property damage.

     Many local and national public safety agencies, including the National Fire Protection Association, Western Fire Chiefs Association, and the National Association of State Fire Marshals, support a ban on the sale and distribution of novelty lighters. 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 173, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 173, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair