HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

99

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Urging the designation of all of Hawaii's airports as smoke-free areas from airplane cabin to airport curb.

 

 

WHEREAS, smoking and tobacco use cause an estimated four hundred thirty thousand deaths in the United States each year and is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality; and

WHEREAS, exposure to secondhand smoke causes approximately thirty-eight thousand deaths among nonsmokers each year in the United States; and

WHEREAS, smoking and tobacco use costs approximately $525,000,000 each year in Hawaii in health care costs and in lost productivity due to premature death; and

WHEREAS, an estimated 1,900,000 workers had jobs at American airports, and more than 1,900,000 passengers passed through these airports daily; and

WHEREAS, while over sixty per cent of American airports reported being totally smoke-free in 2002, larger airports that account for a majority of passenger boardings were less likely than smaller airports to have a smoke-free policy in place; and

WHEREAS, of these larger airports, including Honolulu International Airport as well as Maui, Kauai, and Hilo airports, which serve nearly seventy per cent of all air travelers passing through American airports, fewer than one-half were smoke-free; and

WHEREAS, airport employees and travelers, like employees and patrons at any workplace that permits smoking, are at elevated risk for disease and death caused by secondhand smoke; and

WHEREAS, secondhand smoke contains more than fifty cancer-causing agents and is responsible for an estimated three thousand lung cancer deaths and more than thirty-five thousand coronary deaths among nonsmokers in the United States each year; and

WHEREAS, exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with an increased risk for lower respiratory infections, asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, and chronic ear infections among children; and

WHEREAS, there is no known safe level of secondhand smoke exposure, and evidence suggests that even short-term exposure may increase the risk of experiencing a heart attack; and

WHEREAS, establishing a policy requiring smoke-free environments is one of the most effective methods of reducing secondhand smoke exposure; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's airports are not smoke-free and immediate action is needed to protect airport employees and airline travelers; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the Governor and the Director of Transportation are requested to designate Hawaii's airports as completely smoke-free from "airplane cabin to airport curb" with appropriate "No Smoking" signs and public service announcements in the State's airports; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Governor and the Director of Transportation are requested to enforce this policy prohibiting smoking in all of Hawaii's airports; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Governor and to the Director of Transportation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Smoke-Free Hawaii Airports