STAND. COM. REP. NO.610

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 1063

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1063 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MORTGAGE BROKER LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make the laws regulating mortgage brokers and solicitors consistent with other regulatory laws and administrative rules.

The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs testified in support of this measure.

This measure makes the following housekeeping amendments to the regulatory laws governing mortgage brokers and solicitors:

(1) Reduces the $50,000 bond requirement to $15,000 for mortgage brokers who engage in mortgage servicing;

(2) Repeals specific fee requirements, consistent with the establishment of fee amounts in the Hawaii Administrative Rules, and extends the license renewal cycle from one year to two years;

(3) Establishes financial integrity as a condition of licensure, consistent with the standards established for other professions involved in financial transactions, and codifies the two-year financial transaction experience requirement for designated principal mortgage solicitors; and

(4) Repeals the establishment of a two-year license suspension period to allow suspension consistent with the consumer remedies provision of the public agency meetings law, which establishes a five year suspension period.

Your Committee finds that the above amendments to the mortgage brokers and solicitors licensing law promote consistency and efficiency in the administration of the State's regulatory laws.

Your Committee has amended this measure to correctly reflect the language in the Hawaii Revised Statutes and to reflect preferred drafting style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1063, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1063, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing,

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair