STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1173

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 108

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.R. No. 108 entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING HAWAII RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES TO COMPLY WITH THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA AND NOT TO BUY OR SELL IVORY OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN THAT MAY HAVE BEEN ILLEGALLY SMUGGLED INTO THE STATE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge Hawaii residents and businesses to comply with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and not to buy or sell ivory of unknown origin that may have been illegally smuggled into the State.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Animal Rights Hawaii, Hawaiian Humane Society, Humane Society of the United States, and twenty individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that African elephants and rhinoceroses are being hunted to extinction due to the high price of ivory.  The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, adopted by the United States, banned the sale of African elephant ivory in 1989.  Despite international and national bans, your Committees find that one-third of ivory products sold in the United States have illegal origins.  Your Committees also find that compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora as it relates to the ban on the sale of ivory products in the State will contribute to protecting African elephants and rhinoceroses from extinction.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by adding a paragraph urging the various chambers of commerce of Hawaii to provide their members with copies of this measure and information about the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 108, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor, in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 108, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair