STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1740

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: S.B. No. 365
                                     S.D. 1
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and
Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No.
365, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONSUMER PROTECTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the sale to minors,
and possession by minors, of laser pointing devices, and to
mandate that sellers, at the time of sale, give buyers written
warnings regarding the use of laser pointing devices.

     Testimony in support of this bill was received from the
Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of
Honolulu.  Testimony in opposition to this bill was received from
the Office of the Public Defender.

     Your Committees find that the citizens of this State should
be able to rest assured that they will not become victims of
illegal overcharges.  If the public is harmed by an illegal
overcharge, it is in the best interests of Hawaii's citizens that
punitive action be taken against the wrongdoer to deter
repetition of the conduct.  Your Committees find that the State,
in class actions brought under Section 480-14(c), should be
allowed to recover threefold compensatory damages for injuries
sustained by persons injured.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1740
                                 Page 2

 
     (1)  Deleting all provisions relating to laser pointing
          devices;

     (2)  Adding provisions amending Sections 480-13(a) and 480-
          14(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to clarify that
          individuals and the State (as parens patriae in class
          actions) as indirect purchasers injured by an illegal
          overcharge, shall be allowed to recover threefold
          compensatory damages for injuries sustained;

     (3)  Adding a provision amending Section 480-22, Hawaii
          Revised Statutes, clarifying that consent decrees
          resulting from antitrust actions become effective upon
          filing; and

     (4)  Deleting the effective date.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Consumer
Protection and Commerce that are attached to this report, your
Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
365, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 365, S.D. 1, H.D.
1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Hawaiian Affairs and Consumer
                                   Protection and Commerce,

                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
RON MENOR, Chair                   PAUL T. OSHIRO, Chair