S.C.R. No. 214 Summary

• Requests the Governor direct the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and Department of Health to establish a gambling task force to develop an evidence-based framework on gambling's public health and safety impacts.

• Task force shall conduct baseline prevalence studies on gambling behaviors, evaluate impacts on vulnerable populations, identify responsible gambling regulations, assess tourism planning effects, develop economic impact studies, and create youth prevention and treatment programs.

• Task force membership includes the Directors of Business/Economic Development/Tourism (chair), Health, Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Attorney General, and two public members with gambling knowledge appointed by legislative leaders.

• Requires dedicated funding outside the general fund for independent research to examine disparities in illegal gambling enforcement, sex trafficking implications, and social costs estimated at $26.3 million from problematic and pathological gamblers in Hawaii.

• Task force shall submit findings and recommendations to the Legislature twenty days before the 2022 and 2023 Regular Sessions and shall dissolve on June 30, 2023.