STAND. COM. REP. 2573
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 3172
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 3172 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PEST CONTROL,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to narrow the grounds for sanctioning a pest control operator licensee.
The Hawaii Pest Control Association testified in support of this measure. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) and State Pest Control Board opposed the measure.
Pest control operators have raised concerns that the pest control law authorizing license sanctions:
(1) Is overly broad because it prohibits violation of state and county laws or rules that are not necessarily consumer protection measures, and authorizes disciplinary action against a licensee convicted for any offense committed while engaged in pest control operations; and
(2) Contains references to construction repairs which are irrelevant because pest control operators are no longer licensed as contractors.
Therefore, under this measure, the following acts would no longer constitute grounds for the revocation, suspension, or nonrenewal of a pest control operator's license:
(1) Violation of any state or county law relating to building, pesticide use, safety, or labor, including laws or rules of the Departments of Agriculture, Health, or Labor and Industrial Relations;
(2) Failure to complete any operation or construction repair for the price stated in the contract; and
(3) Commission of an offense while engaged in the business of pest control operations that resulted in a criminal conviction.
Your Committee finds that as section 436B-19(14), Hawaii Revised Statutes, already authorizes sanctions against a licensee regulated by DCCA who has a criminal conviction, a similar prohibition in the pest control operators law is duplicative and unnecessary.
Your Committee further finds, however, that the other changes proposed by this measure would weaken consumer protection. Licensees would no longer be subject to discipline for violating requirements established outside of the pest control operators law that may nevertheless impact consumer protection, such as the law that governs the application of pesticides. Further, licensees would not be obligated to perform work at the agreed-upon contract price. Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure to:
(1) Prohibit pest control operators from violating any law or rule of the State or counties relating to building, pesticide use, safety or labor, or that is rationally related to the qualifications, functions, duties, or responsibilities of a pest control operator, including but not limited to the Hawaii pesticides law; and
(2) Prohibit a licensee from failing to perform an operation for the price stated in the contract or in an agreed upon modification to the contract.
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. 3172, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3172, S.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing,
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____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair |
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