STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2402

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2113

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2113 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit manufacturers, contract testing facilities, and research facilities in Hawaii from using animal test methods for which an alternative test method is available.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Cruelty Free International, Keiko Conservation, Animal Rights Hawaii, and fifteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the University of Hawaii System; Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that according to Cruelty Free International, for more than fifty years, animals have been used in painful tests to assess the safety of certain chemicals used in cosmetic products and household cleaners.  Consumers and scientists have become increasingly skeptical about the necessity and validity of animal testing for cosmetics and household products because animal testing alternatives are available that are cheaper, faster, and better able to predict human reactions.  Although hundreds of cosmetic and household product companies have voluntarily ceased animal testing, without any laws banning animal testing, countless animals are vulnerable to cruel tests.  Your Committees find that Hawaii should lead by example and prohibit manufacturers and contract testing facilities in Hawaii from using animal test methods to test cosmetics and household products for which an alternative test method is available.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting references to "research facility", to apply the animal testing ban only to manufacturers and contract testing facilities;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that the animal testing ban applies only to the testing of cosmetics or household products;

 

     (3)  Inserting language to exclude the use of animal test methods that comply with requirements of state and federal agencies;

 

     (4)  Inserting language to exclude animal tests necessary to prevent the introduction and establishment of plants, animals, and diseases that are detrimental to the State's agricultural industry and the environment, to protect the health and safety of people, or for purposes of national defense;

 

     (5)  Clarifying that, in addition to medical research, the animal testing ban does not apply to animal test methods used for the purposes of neuroscience, and basic science testing, education, and research; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2113, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2113, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair