STAND. COM. REP. NO. 543
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2005
RE: S.B. No. 769
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2005
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 769 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CABLE TELEVISION,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to issue rebates to cable television subscribers.
The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) and PBS Hawaii testified in support of this measure. The League of Women Voters presented comments on the measure.
Under DCCA's administrative rules, each cable television operator is required to pay an annual fee of one per cent of the preceding year's income received from cable television subscribers. The fee is paid into the Compliance Resolution Fund to cover the costs of administering the cable television regulatory program.
On occasion, the amounts collected by DCCA have exceeded the Department's administrative costs, resulting in a surplus of funds. This measure would allow DCCA to return this surplus to cable television subscribers in the form of a rebate.
Your Committees have amended this measure:
(1) By deleting language that would have exempted the decision and order process from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(2) To require DCCA to conduct a study of the highest and best uses for franchise fees authorized pursuant to chapter 440G, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and to report its findings and recommendations to the 2006 Legislature; and
(3) By making technical, stylistic changes.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 769, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 769, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology,
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____________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair |
____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair |
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