STAND. COM. REP. NO. 668-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 2339

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness and Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 2339 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE STATE DRUG AND ALCOHOL TOXICOLOGY TESTING LABORATORY SPECIAL FUND,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Make an emergency appropriation from the State Highway Fund to the Department of Health's State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory Special Fund for fiscal year 2021-2022; and

(2) Authorize the Department of Health to expend these funds for the establishment of the State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Honolulu Police Department, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawaii.

Your Committees find that Act 196, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021 (Act 196), among other things, established the State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory Special Fund to be used for the cost of establishing a State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory. Hawaii is the only state in the country without its own toxicology laboratory. Consequently, drug and alcohol toxicology testing must currently be outsourced to the mainland.

Your Committees further find that although the special fund was to be funded with monies appropriated from the State Highway Fund, Act 196 failed to make this appropriation. This measure addresses that oversight by making an emergency appropriation to the Department of Health for the establishment of the State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the emergency appropriations from the State Highway Fund and State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory Special Fund to unspecified amounts;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2060, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Should the Committee on Finance deliberate on this measure further, your Committees respectfully request that it consider making an emergency appropriation of $2,000,000 from both the State Highway Fund and the State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory Special Fund for the establishment of the State Drug and Alcohol Toxicology Testing Laboratory.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness and Transportation that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2339, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2339, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness and Transportation,

____________________________ HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair

____________________________ RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair