Bill Text: HI SB130 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Good Samaritan; Medical Amnesty

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [SB130 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SB130-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 418

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 130

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 130 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to encourage individuals to implement life-saving procedures during medical emergencies involving controlled substances.

 

     Specifically, this measure provides limited immunity from criminal drug possession charges and asset forfeiture for persons experiencing a drug overdose or who summon assistance for another person experiencing a drug overdose, when a person calls for medical assistance during a drug overdose emergency.  The measure further provides that the immunity shall not apply to the person who sold the drugs to the victim.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the City and County of Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

 

     Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure is modeled after New Mexico's 911 Good Samaritan law and recognizes that many drug-related overdoses occur in the presence of close friends.  Your Committee further finds that this measure will increase the chance that an individual will survive a drug overdose because the fear of criminal liability will be diminished.

 

     Your Committee further finds that limitations and exclusions on the immunity granted defeats the intent of the measure.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing the provision that states that the immunity shall not apply to the person who sold the drugs to the victim; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 130, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 130, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair