STAND. COM. REP. NO.128
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2001
RE: S.B. No. 1073
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2001
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1073 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAVEL SERVICES,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to strengthen consumer protections in the area of travel services.
The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and American Society of Travel Agents testified in support of the measure.
Recent cases of travel operations mismanagement underscore the need for stronger laws governing the regulation of travel agencies and charter tour operators. This measure strengthens the existing regulatory scheme by:
(1) Specifying grounds for the denial of a travel agency's or charter tour operator's registration;
(2) Establishing recordkeeping standards for client trust accounts;
(3) Prohibiting practices that harm consumers or put them at risk of harm;
(4) Authorizing the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew a registration; and
(5) Establishing remedies for violations of the regulatory laws.
Your Committees find that this measure will help to better protect consumers of travel services without imposing excessive or burdensome requirements on the providers of travel services.
Your Committees have amended this measure to reflect preferred drafting style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1073, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1073, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing and Judiciary,
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____________________________ BRIAN KANNO, Chair |
____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair |
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