Hawaii law complicates club's eyeglasses giveaway

By June Watanabe

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 31, 2013

~~Question: Midweek had a recent article touting a service project by the Lions Club in which it collects old eyeglasses to be given to needy people in foreign nations. The article quoted someone as saying, “Used eyeglasses cannot be distributed in the U.S.” I believe that's false. As far as I can discover, there’s no federal law against it, and I cannot imagine why such a law would be justified. It appears to be a matter of liability. I found an article from June 2011 saying that Oregon passed a law exempting charitable organizations from liability when products they give away result in injury. Do we need the state Legislature to pass such a law in Hawaii? Wouldn’t we prefer to help needy kids at home? 
Answer: There is no federal law prohibiting the distribution of used prescription glasses within the United States.
~~

Question: Midweek had a recent article touting a service project by the Lions Club in which it collects old eyeglasses to be given to needy people in foreign nations. The article quoted someone as saying, “Used eyeglasses cannot be distributed in the U.S.” I believe that's false. As far as I can discover, there’s no federal law against it, and I cannot imagine why such a law would be justified. It appears to be a matter of liability. I found an article from June 2011 saying that Oregon passed a law exempting charitable organizations from liability when products they give away result in injury. Do we need the state Legislature to pass such a law in Hawaii? Wouldn’t we prefer to help needy kids at home?