STAND. COM. REP. NO.3412
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.C.R. No. 58
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 58, S.D. 1, entitled:
"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING A JOINT SENATE-HOUSE REVIEW COMMITTEE TO REVIEW PETROLEUM PRICE ISSUES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to establish a joint Senate-House legislative review committee to review petroleum fuel price issues.
This measure provides for the establishment of a joint legislative review committee to gather and review publicly available information, studies, and reports relating to petroleum fuel prices, to evaluate this information, and to develop legislation to address the problem of high fuel prices in the State. In addition, this measure:
(1) Requests the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to provide assistance in gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information submitted under the Petroleum Industry Reporting Act and to provide the committee with technical assistance;
(2) Requests the Attorney General to provide the committee with copies of documents from its investigation of the petroleum industry;
(3) Requests the Legislative Reference Bureau's assistance in conducting legal and policy analyses and in drafting legislation; and
(4) Requires the joint legislative review committee to submit its findings and recommendations prior to the convening of the 2003 Legislature.
Your Committee has amended this measure to:
(1) Include additional facts on the issue of price control, including facts relating to the effects of the imposition and lifting of federal gasoline price controls on Hawaii's gasoline market in the 1970s;
(2) Clarify that a legislative review would enable the Legislature to review data to develop appropriate and responsive legislation on the fuel price issue; and
(3) Clarify the review committee's tasks by requesting the committee to propose remedies that would reduce gasoline prices in Hawaii, including but not limited to price caps and amendments to State laws that would facilitate the prosecution of oligopolies, and by deleting language that requests recommendations relating to the high cost of motor fuel, the causes of price differentials between gas in Hawaii and gas in other states, and the effects of the price differentials.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 58, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 58, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
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____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair |
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