Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns, to which was referred H.B. No. 520 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is allow more consumers to hire handymen for jobs which they feel don't require a licensed contractor by raising the limit of the handyman exemption for work requiring a contractor's license from $1,000 to $5,000.

Cornerstone Properties, National Association of Residential Property Managers, West Oahu Realty, Inc., and the Oahu Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers testified in favor of the bill. The Hawaii Association of Realtors testified in support of the intent of the bill. The Contractors License Board, Sheet Metal Contractors Association, Roofing Contractors Association of Hawaii, Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association of Hawaii, Subcontractors Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Flooring Association, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, General Contractors Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, Hawaii Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., and an individual testified in opposition to the measure.

Your Committee appreciates the need to provide repair and building services to those who just need small jobs done. Raising the exemption limit from $1000 to $5000 will open up more of these jobs to handymen. However, on the other hand, your Committee is aware that the safety of the consumer is most important.

Your Committee finds that the exemption has been $1,000 for over ten years during which time the cost of supplies and labor have both risen. Therefore, your Committee has amended this bill by raising the exemption to $1,500 to cover these additional costs but defers to your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce on the issue of whether the exemption should be raised further or whether this would put the consumer in jeopardy.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 520, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 520, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.