STAND. COM. REP. NO. 355

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 652

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 652 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to reduce the number of minors and youth who smoke or begin smoking by restricting the placement of tobacco for sale and tobacco advertising.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from eight individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Hawaii Food Industry Association, and over seven hundred individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the tobacco industry spends billions of dollars annually on advertising and marketing its products in the United States.  Restrictions on mass media advertising of tobacco have forced tobacco companies to use retail establishments as their primary advertising venues.  Your Committee finds that retail stores are given incentives to place tobacco advertisements and products in strategic locations near the cash register, known as point-of-sale displays.

     Your Committee also finds that there is a well-documented connection between youth exposure to tobacco advertising and youth tobacco initiation.  Your Committee further finds that an essential component of reducing the number of minors who smoke is reducing their exposure to tobacco advertisements.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing the provision prohibiting tobacco advertising from being placed within twenty-five feet of children's products, toys, cookies, candy, ice cream, gum, or snacks;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  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 Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 652, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 652, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair