STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2304

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2483

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy, to which was referred S.B. No. 2483 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREWORKS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Add a new section to delineate the responsibilities of a person or entity defined as a "shipper";

     (2)  Allow fireworks to be used in movie productions and by those authorized to destroy or test fireworks; and

     (3)  Make amendments regarding the dimensions of required labels on certain kinds of fireworks.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; State Fire Council; Maui Fire Department; and Kauai Fire Department.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Transportation and Young Brothers Ltd.

     Your Committees find that the importation and sale of fireworks in Hawaii involves multiple modes of transport, including interstate trucking or rail, interstate maritime transportation, intrastate maritime transportation, and intrastate trucking.  If misused, fireworks can cause considerable property damage and personal injury.  Given the wide variety of transportation processes and the potential for risk, it is in the best interests of the health and safety of residents of the State to perform a thorough accounting and reporting on the importation of fireworks shipments.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting the suggested amendment of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to clarify that one of the exceptions to the firework prohibitions is for movie or television production, not just film or movie productions; 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 Transportation and Energy that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2483, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2483, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair