STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3888

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 598

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 598, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOBACCO PRODUCTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to enhance public health protections against tobacco products.

Specifically, the measure:

(1) Establishes the offense of unlawful shipment of tobacco products;

(2) Includes electronic smoking devices among the tobacco products that are regulated in the State;

(3) Increases the license fee for persons or entities engaged as a wholesaler or dealer of cigarettes and tobacco products;

(4) Increases the retail tobacco permit fee for retailers engaged in the retail sale of cigarettes and tobacco products; and

(5) On an annual basis, deposits $750,000 of certain tax revenues to the credit of the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund to support health education and prevention programs concerning the risks and danger of the use of electronic smoking devices by youth.

Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; Department of Health; We Are One, Inc.; Hawaii Association of School Psychologists; Get Fit Kauai; Hawaii COPD Coalition; American Lung Association in Hawaii; Hawaii Primary Care Association; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!; AlohaCare; Americans for Democratic Action; Hawaii Public Health Institute; Hawaii Dental Association; American Heart Association; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network; Pop Warner Hamakua Coast Cougars; Hawaii Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Hawaii Public Health Association; Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii - Youth Council; and numerous individuals.

Your Committees received written comments in opposition to this measure from Retail Merchants of Hawaii; Cigar Association of America, Inc.; Hawaii Smokers Alliance; and four individuals.

Your Committees received written comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation, Hawaii Petroleum Marketers Association, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and Hawaii Food Industry Association.

Your Committees find that the use of tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices, continues to impose health risks on Hawaii's residents and, consequently, believe that further regulation of those products is necessary.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and

purpose of H.B. No. 598, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair