STAND. COM. REP. NO.745
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2003
RE: S.B. No. 1201
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2003
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1201, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE FRANCHISES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to reinstate regulatory licensing of motor vehicle manufacturers and motor vehicle distributors through articulating prohibited practices related to franchising and assigning procedures and remedies for violations of such regulations.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Motor Vehicle Industry Licensing Board, several Hawaii motor vehicle dealerships, and the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers submitted comments on this measure.
Your Committee finds that restoration of licensing of motor vehicle manufacturers and distributors will provide additional protections for motor vehicle dealers and extend these same protections to distributors. Your Committee further finds that motor vehicle franchise laws have been enacted in all of the other forty-nine states, as a means to extend protections to dealers and distributors from potential coercive business practices by motor vehicle manufacturers. Your Committee notes that there have been and continue to be ongoing discussions between representatives of motor vehicle manufacturers and Hawaii automobile dealers with regard to resolving disputes arising from violations of this proposed franchising law. In consideration of these discussions, your Committee will retain the defective effective date of this measure and has further amended this measure by:
(1) Clarifying that no waivers of state law may be offered as part of a franchise or distributorship agreement binding a person who is acquiring or holding a franchise or distributorship;
(2) Adding a provision to allow for a voluntary dispute resolution option to be exercised in order to settle legitimate disputes between parties;
(3) Applying the same dispute resolution options available to disputes involving franchise or distributorship agreements in determining remedies available to distributorships that are not manufacturers;
(4) Deleting the proposed amendment to section 437-25(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), that referenced a section of law (section 437-17, HRS) that was repealed by Act 153, Session Laws of Hawaii 1992; and
(5) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and 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. 1201, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1201, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing,
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____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair |