HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

107

THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THe department of taxation to issue an ASSESSMENT REPORT on fiscal implications of historic, current, and projected tobacco revenues.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, despite great efforts, cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable disability and death in the State and the nation; and

 

     WHEREAS, because of the State's efforts to curb cigarette use, the prospect for a cigarette-free society may become a reality as the number of current smokers is now small enough that completely banning tobacco sales by progressively increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco products may be considered; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Institute of Medicine has proposed establishing three minimum ages for persons to purchase cigarettes:  nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty-five years of age; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii was the first state in the nation to institute a minimum age of twenty-one for the purchase of tobacco products; and

 

     WHEREAS, women in the State who are of childbearing age, as well as these women's potential fetuses and children, would significantly and immediately benefit from raising the minimum age for the purchase of cigarettes to twenty-five years of age; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2001, 17.5 percent of teenage mothers smoked during pregnancy, while only eighteen to twenty-five percent of all women quit smoking once they become pregnant; and

 

     WHEREAS, all nicotine delivery devices, including electronic cigarettes that contain nicotine, negatively affect reproduction; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is the nicotine in cigarettes, rather than the carcinogens, that negatively affects reproduction by altering the flow of blood to the fetus and damaging various fetal organ systems; and

 

     WHEREAS, the reproductive effects of nicotine also include an increased risk of infertility, pregnancy complications, premature birth, low birth weight, still birth and infant death, placenta previa, placental abruption, premature rupture of membranes, and preeclampsia; and

 

     WHEREAS, low birth weight is one of the leading causes of infant deaths, resulting in more than three hundred thousand infant deaths annually in the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, concerns over the negative effects of nicotine should also necessitate increasing the minimum age for the purchase of electronic cigarettes; and

 

     WHEREAS, the impact on the State's tobacco tax revenues is possibly the most important limitation on increasing the minimum age for the purchase of tobacco products; and

 

     WHEREAS, additional knowledge on the effect on the State's tax revenue of raising the minimum age for the purchase of cigarettes will allow for more informed public policy decision-making; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, that the Department of Taxation is requested to issue an assessment report of the fiscal implications of historic, current, and projected tobacco revenues; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Taxation is requested to include the following information regarding cigarette revenues, exclusive of revenues from other non-cigarette tobacco products, in its report:

(1)  All historic, current, and projected sources of cigarette revenues to the State;

 

(2)  Annual cigarette revenues received by the State since fiscal year 1995, and the allocation of these revenues;

 

(3)  Projected cigarette revenues to be received by the State annually from fiscal years 2020 through 2040 based on current economic forecasts, and projected allocations of these revenues; and

 

(4)  Projected cigarette revenues to be received by the State from fiscal years 2020 through 2040 if the minimum legal age to purchase cigarettes were increased as follows:

 

(A)  From twenty-one years of age to twenty-five years of age in 2020;

 

(B)  From twenty-five years of age to thirty years of age in 2021; and

 

(C)  Annual minimum age increases in five-year increments through 2040; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Taxation is requested to include the following information regarding non-cigarette tobacco revenues, exclusive of cigarette revenues, in its report:

 

(1)  All historic, current, and projected sources of non-cigarette tobacco revenues to the State;

 

(2)  Annual non-cigarette tobacco revenues received by the State since fiscal year 1995, and the allocation of these revenues;

 

(3)  Projected non-cigarette tobacco revenues to be received by the State annually from fiscal years 2020 through 2040 based on current economic forecasts, and projected allocations of these revenues; and

(4)  Projected non-cigarette tobacco revenues to be received by the State from fiscal years 2020 through 2040 if the minimum legal age to purchase non-cigarette tobacco products were increased as follows:

 

(A)  From twenty-one years of age to twenty-five years of age in 2020;

 

(B)  From twenty-five years of age to thirty years of age in 2021; and

 

(C)  Annual minimum age increases in five-year increments through 2040; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Taxation is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2020; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Department of Taxation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Department of Taxation; Report; Tobacco; Cigarettes