STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2854

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2736

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2736, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROMOTION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the offense of promoting a controlled substance in, on, or near schools, school vehicles, or public parks to include public housing projects and complexes.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority of the Department of Human Services, Department of Public Safety, the City and County of Honolulu Police Department, the Drug Policy Forum, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that acts of substance abuse and drug trafficking regularly occur in public housing projects and complexes.  This measure extends the prohibition of promoting a controlled substance in, on, or near schools, school vehicles, or public parks to include public housing projects and complexes and makes the crime a class C felony or, in the case of manufacturing methamphetamine within a certain distance from a public housing project or complex, a class A felony.  These deterrents should significantly improve the ability of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to ensure secure, livable communities for public housing residents and assist law enforcement in its efforts to curtail illegal drug activity.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2736, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair