RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) implements and enforces all laws and rules governing the licensing, registration, operation, and supervision of trades, businesses, and professions throughout the State; and

WHEREAS, section 26H-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), sets forth policies for regulation of these professions and vocations, which require that:

and

WHEREAS, 25 regulatory boards and commissions administratively attached to DCCA are authorized to develop and establish requirements for licensure and requirements allowing licensees to continue to maintain a license; and

WHEREAS, DCCA develops and establishes requirements for licensure and requirements allowing a licensee to continue to maintain a license for an additional 21 regulatory programs; and

WHEREAS, DCCA, in cooperation with its regulatory boards and commissions, has, wherever possible, attempted to deregulate and streamline the licensing laws and rules applicable to professions and vocations; and

WHEREAS, it has nevertheless been argued that some of the regulatory programs overseen by DCCA, its boards, and its commissions, increase the cost of goods and services to consumers and unreasonably restrict entry into professions and vocations by all qualified persons; and

WHEREAS, it has also been argued that these regulatory programs have in some recent instances increased in number and in scope in explicit contravention of conclusions drawn by the Auditor in studies under chapter 26H, HRS, that such regulation is unnecessary; and

WHEREAS, one means of determining whether DCCA’s regulatory and licensure programs comply with the policies of section 26H-2, HRS, is to compare these programs with those of other states; and

WHEREAS, a comparative analysis of professional and vocational regulation in other states may be structured to identify areas where Hawaii imposes educational, testing, experience, or other requirements for entry into a profession that are more burdensome than national norms, and to develop conclusions about whether those requirements are necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of consumers; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature affirms its commitment to the policies under section 26H-2, HRS, and also finds that conclusions drawn from, and modifications of regulatory programs, based on the Auditor's comparison of Hawaii's professional and vocational regulation with that of other states, would be consistent with the procedural requirements of section 26H-5, HRS; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to compare professional and vocational regulation under laws administered by DCCA, with that of other states, including educational, testing, experience, and other regulatory requirements; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is to evaluate this information and identify those of Hawaii's requirements that are unnecessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of consumers, protect the welfare of the regulated profession or vocation rather than of the consumer, or otherwise run contrary to the policies under section 26H-2, HRS; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to report its findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, concerning the regulatory programs implemented by the 25 boards and commissions administratively attached to DCCA to the Legislature no later than 20 days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2004; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to report findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, concerning the 21 regulatory programs implemented by DCCA to the Legislature no later than 20 days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and to the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

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