STAND. COM. REP. NO. 48

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 955

       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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 955 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SHOOTING RANGE PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide liability protection to individuals who operate or use a sport shooting range by:

     (1)  Prohibiting a person who uses or operates a sport shooting range from being subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution in a matter relating to nuisance or noise pollution that is the result of using or operating a sport shooting range in compliance with applicable laws or ordinances established after the date of initial construction or operation of the range;

     (2)  Prohibiting a person who uses or operates a sport shooting range from being subject to noise decibel-limiting rules adopted by a state department or agency after the date of initial construction or operation of the range;

     (3)  Exempting a sport shooting range that is operated pursuant to existing law from compliance with a new ordinance or amended ordinance; and

     (4)  Establishing that a person who participates in sport shooting accepts obvious and inherent risks associated with the participation in the sport.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Institute for Rational and Evidence-based Legislation, Hawaii Rifle Association, Hawaii Hunting Association, North Pacific Firearms, The Society for Hawaii Heritage Animals, and thirty-one individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Association for Justice.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that sport shooting ranges are a valuable resource for target shooting and firearm safety training.  Sport shooting ranges are important public recreation resources and provide law enforcement agencies and personnel with the opportunity to maintain necessary firearms skills training at a minimal cost.  However, burdensome retroactive regulation and lawsuits threaten this vital resource that benefits law enforcement, hunters, and the public.  This measure will ensure that sport shooting ranges are available and afford users and operators of sport shooting ranges with necessary liability protections.

     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, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 955, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 955, 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, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair