STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2268

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2590

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2590 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit state and county employees who are authorized to carry firearms from carrying a firearm while consuming alcohol or within an unspecified number of hours of consuming alcohol or after ingesting prescription medications that would impair judgment or physical response of the employees while carrying a firearm.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety; Department of Land and Natural Resources; and Hawaii Rifle Association.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Police Chiefs of Hawaii Association; Maui Police Department; and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers and one individual.

     Your Committees find that the consumption of alcohol or certain prescription medications can impair the judgment and physical response of state or county employees who are authorized to carry a firearm, thereby decreasing public safety.  However, there are occasions where state or county employees may be compelled to consume small amounts of alcohol or drugs to develop intelligence or evidence.

     Your Committees have amended this measure accordingly by:

     (1)  Adding language to create an exemption for state and county employees who are taking part in an official criminal surveillance or undercover operation; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2590, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2590, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Water and Land,

____________________________ MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair