Joint Senate committees
to hear bill on quarantine

---

Star-Bulletin staff

The joint state Senate Committees on Water, Land and Agriculture and Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations will hear a bill tomorrow to modify the requirements on quarantine.

The hearing will take place at 1:15 p.m. in state Capitol Conference Room 224.

Transportation Committee chairman Cal Kawamoto, who is also Senate majority floor leader, and Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings are co-sponsoring the bill, also known as Ruby's Law.

"The quarantine system, in its present form, is archaic and useless," said Hemmings (R, Kailua-Waimanalo-Hawaii Kai). "It's just a way to collect inflated fees to support state bureaucracy."

He added: "Inoculations exist that will ensure safety precautions to keep Hawaii rabies-free, just as what is currently being done in other jurisdictions. The current system is based on 1912 science."

The bill requires that all animals entering the state have a microchip for identification, a current rabies vaccination, a health certificate and a blood test for rabies antibodies conducted within the last year.

The measure was named after a 3-year-old miniature pinscher that died in quarantine in December.