STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1578

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1032

H.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1032, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to update the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, chapter 329, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to reflect recent amendments in the federal controlled substances law, as required by section 329-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee finds that existing state law requires the Department of Public Safety to recommend that the Legislature make corresponding changes to state law, or to make an emergency scheduling action, if a controlled substance is added, deleted, or rescheduled under federal law.  Accordingly, the Department of Public Safety temporarily designated several substances as controlled substances in 2020 to correspond to several similar changes made by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to the federal controlled substances schedules. Thus, to avoid nullification of these temporary designations, this measure makes permanent those temporary designations to conform state law to federal law. This measure further aligns the State with recent federal action to remove certain approved cannabidiol drugs from controlled substances regulation, including any future generic equivalents, which have been used to treat seizure disorders in children.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1032, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair