STAND. COM. REP. 2217

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2841

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2841 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOBACCO,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require retail sellers of tobacco products other than cigarettes be holders of a valid retail tobacco permit by July 1, 2005.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the State Attorney General, American Heart Association, Hawaii Food Industry Association, Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, and American Lung Association.

Your Committee finds that currently there are no permitting or licensing requirements for retailers of tobacco products. Retail permitting or licensing for the sale of tobacco products is common in many other jurisdictions. Within the United States, forty states already have some form of permitting requirement for tobacco products. In some jurisdictions, these types of record-keeping requirements have helped law enforcement with illegal smuggling of tobacco. Your Committee believes that this measure will also help deter illegal purchases of tobacco products and the sale of tobacco products to minors through criminal sanctions and suspensions and revocations of permits and licenses.

Your Committee has amended this measure to:

(1) Clarify section 245-A(d), which is added to the Hawaii Revised Statutes by section 1 of the bill, to require separate retail tobacco permits for each place of business and to require a retailer to submit only one application for more than one permit in section 1; and

(2) Add a new subsection to outline a good cause exception for tobacco licenses as provided for retail tobacco permits in section 4.

Your Committee also made technical, non-substantive amendments. As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2841, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2841, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair