Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 1318, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to facilitate the administration of the State's business registration laws by clarifying ambiguities and correcting errors, repealing unnecessary requirements, aligning requirements among different types of business entities, and conforming business registration laws to other business-related statutes.

Your Committee heard testimony from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) requesting that this bill be amended.

The bill was received by your Committee in 2003 and was a companion bill to H.B. No. 1165, which in 2003 became Act 124. It therefore became available as a vehicle for current needs and is being used to revive two important measures referred to this Committee that were not heard earlier in the session due to time constraints and unrealized expectations.

The substance of this bill was replaced with the substance of H.B. No. 2406 and H.B. No. 2432, to the extent permitted by the bill's title. As amended, the bill allows DCCA to reduce or increase business registration fees by 50 percent in order to maintain a reasonable relationship between revenues and the services rendered. DCCA is already permitted to do this with respect to the majority of the chapters under its jurisdiction, and H.B. No. 2406 would have completed the list. The amended bill incorporates those provisions from H.B. No. 2406 that relate to business registration.

The balance of the amended bill incorporates provisions from H.B. No. 2432 that reduce business registration fees, as requested by the Legislature in 2003 to align revenue with cost.

Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made for purposes of consistency and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1318, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1318, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.