LIHU‘E — A bill that would allow outlaw tobacco products at county parks and designate the parks’ parking lots as smoking areas seemed poised to fly through second and final reading Wednesday at the Kaua‘i County Council meeting. Instead, the
LIHU‘E — A bill that would allow outlaw tobacco products at county parks and designate the parks’ parking lots as smoking areas seemed poised to fly through second and final reading Wednesday at the Kaua‘i County Council meeting. Instead, the council decided to put more work into the bill.
After testimony from both sides of the issue, and a standstill that could have turned the bill into a resolution — which means there would be no enforcement — the full council blew the bill back to its Parks and Recreation Committee.
“This is a tough one,” said Councilman Dickie Chang. “We all want some win-win situation.”
Despite a year in the making before being introduced May 24 by Chang, and much work done in two committee meetings, a few problems were still pending when the bill reached second reading Wednesday.
Neither the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawai‘i nor smokers were very happy with the bill’s final version.
Some of the testifiers said that setting aside county parking lots as smoking areas would concentrate smoking in a place that children have to go through. There was also an issue with the Kapa‘a Sunshine Market, conducted in the parking lot of Kapa‘a New Town Park, which could potentially turn the market into a designated smoking area.
Another issue raised was that the bill was crafted to outlaw tobacco products rather than smoking alone. The problem is that the state of Hawai‘i, which would be the body prosecuting violators, does not have capabilities to prove that any substance is made of tobacco, despite the obvious assumptions. This could make this law unenforceable, according to some council members.
Councilman Mel Rapozo said he was told by a Big Island council member who helped pass a similar law there that it was a “feel-good” bill, meaning it is unenforceable.
Rapozo said it would be better to concentrate efforts on education rather than on a bill which could not be enforced.
Rapozo also questioned a potential amendment hinted by Council Vice Chair JoAnn Yukimura, changing language in the bill to outlaw smoking rather than tobacco products. If such amendment was added to the bill, it could change it substantially, potentially requiring a second public hearing, he said.
Councilman KipuKai Kuali‘i mirrored Rapozo’s concerns, saying enforcement was a “big issue,” and the county should be working on education.
Rapozo and Kuali‘i tried to receive the bill, which would shelve it without action, but Rapozo’s motion was defeated by a 2-4 vote (Councilman Tim Bynum left the meeting early due to illness).
Council Chair Jay Furfaro said he was open to any options, including changing the bill into a resolution, although he would rather have a motion to defer the bill for further work.
If the bill was turned into a resolution, it would have no enforcement and would expire at the end of the current council’s term, by Nov. 30.
When Yukimura said she would like to defer the bill, and that she had four amendments to address the concerns, Rapozo suggested sending the bill back to committee, taking the load off the full council.
The bill is supposed to be back in discussion at the council’s Parks and Recreation Committee Aug. 1. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Historic County Building in Lihu‘e.
