STAND. COM. REP. NO. 227

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1180

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1180 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Public Safety to:

 

     (1)  Make certain considerations when determining whether a substance should be emergency scheduled; and

 

     (2)  Post a public notice at the State Capitol, in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, and on the Department's website thirty days prior to the effective date of any emergency scheduling of a substance.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety and the Department of the Attorney General.

 

     Your Committee finds that section 329-11(e), Hawaii Revised Statutes, permits the Administrator of the Narcotics Enforcement Division of the Department of Public Safety (NED) to place new drugs into the controlled substances schedules on an emergency basis but does not presently contain clear notices provisions.  The emergency scheduling provision is important because it allows law enforcement to combat new "designer" drugs that are constantly being created in order to skirt the Uniform Controlled Substances Act.

 

     This measure will require the NED Administrator to provide thirty days' notice to the public before emergency scheduling goes into effect and clarify where notice is to be posted.  The measure also clarifies which factors the Administrator must consider in determining whether to add certain drugs to the controlled substance schedules via the emergency scheduling process.  These amendments are necessary to address legal requirements of notice, due process, and delegation powers.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1180 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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

		____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair