Bill Text: HI HCR124 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requesting The Director Of Commerce And Consumer Affairs To Determine The Number Of Multiunit Buildings With Smoke-free Policies, Including Condominiums And Apartment Buildings, And Examine The Types Of Smoke-free Policies In Use.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-11 - Referred to HSG, CPC, referral sheet 40 [HCR124 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2020-HCR124-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
124 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting the Director of Commerce and Consumer affairs to determine the number of multiunit buildings with smoke-free policies, INCLUDING CONDOMINIUMS AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS, and examine the types of smoke-free policies in use.
WHEREAS, section 356D-6.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, prohibits smoking in and around public housing projects, elder or elderly housing, or state low-income housing projects, within each individual housing unit, all common areas, community facilities, and twenty-five feet from any entrance, exit, window, and ventilation intake that serves an enclosed or partially enclosed area; and
WHEREAS, secondhand smoke is smoke from burning tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, which has been exhaled by the smoker; and
WHEREAS, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco smoke contains a deadly mix of more than seven thousand chemicals of which about seventy can cause cancer and hundreds are toxic; and
WHEREAS, there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure; and
WHEREAS, secondhand smoke can cause disease and early death in children and adult nonsmokers who inhale dangerous chemicals through involuntary or passive smoking; and
WHEREAS, babies and children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at greater risk for sudden infant death syndrome, lung problems, ear infections, more frequent and severe asthma attacks, and cancer; and
WHEREAS, in adults, secondhand smoke can cause heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer; and
WHEREAS, from 2005 to 2009 an estimated thirty-four thousand heart disease deaths and more than seven thousand three hundred lung cancer deaths among adult nonsmokers were caused by secondhand smoke exposure in the United States; and
WHEREAS, most children and adults are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes and according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year twenty-eight million multiunit housing residents are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes or apartments that originated in another location in the building; and
WHEREAS, according to the United States Surgeon General, secondhand smoke can travel between homes in multiunit buildings and common areas and opening windows or using ventilation systems, including fans, air conditioning, or other traditional separation strategies, cannot eliminate exposure to toxins in secondhand smoke; and
WHEREAS, smoke-free policies can reduce secondhand smoke exposure, improve health, and save money; and
WHEREAS, for example, it is estimated that the annual cost savings resulting from a nation-wide smoke-free policy in subsidized housing could be $310,000,000 in secondhand smoke related health care and $153,000,000 for cleaning costs and fire losses attributable to smoking; and
WHEREAS, in light of the rising demand in Hawaii for multiunit housing, the State must make every effort to reach its housing plan's overall goal that "every Hawaii resident will have the opportunity to live in a safe, decent and affordable home"; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the Senate concurring, that the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is requested to determine the number of multiunit buildings with smoke-free policies that are not covered by section 356D-6.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including condominiums and apartment buildings, and examine the types of smoke-free policies in use; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is requested to encourage multiunit building owners, associations, and managers to implement smoke-free policies where secondhand smoke can travel into individual units, with a special emphasis on common areas and limited common areas, such as lanais adjoining individual units; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is requested to provide, where appropriate, information and education on the hazards of secondhand smoke and benefits of smoke-free policies to multiunit buildings owners, associations, and managers; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is requested to submit a report of findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2021; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Secondhand Smoke; Multiunit Buildings; Smoke-Free Policies; Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
