STAND. COM. REP. NO. 402

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 802

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 802 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SMOKING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow cooperative housing corporations and condominium associations to adopt rules to prohibit smoking, including the use of electronic smoking devices, in certain areas of their respective facilities.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, and Hawaii Community Pharmacy Association.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from VOLCANO Fine Electronic Cigarettes and twelve individuals.

     Your Committee finds that 38 percent of housing in Hawaii is represented by multi-unit structures, compared to the national average of 26 percent.  Of the people who live in multi-unit housing structures, many smoke in those structures, including on their own lanai or outside their own unit.  However, in each of those cases, the smoke easily travels to other units within the structures.  By prohibiting smoking, including the use of electronic smoking devices, in condominiums and other multi-unit housing structures, this measure will reduce the likelihood of nonuser exposure to exhaled toxicants and carcinogens.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     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. 802, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 802, 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