STAND. COM. REP. NO. 863

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1006

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1006 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MORTGAGE BROKERS AND SOLICITORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to exempt bank holding companies; subsidiaries of a bank that have been granted approval by the federal government to invest in, own, or operate; exclusive agents of a bank, savings association, or credit union; and operating subsidiaries of a bank or credit union from the regulations that govern mortgage brokers and solicitors.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Central Pacific Bank and Central Pacific HomeLoans.  First Hawaiian Bank submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.  The Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; the Regulated Industries Complaint Office of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Primerica Financial Services Home Mortgages, Inc.; and the Hawaii Credit Union League submitted comments on this measure.

     Your Committee finds that mortgage brokers and solicitors who work in a bank fall within the regulatory scheme of the Division of Financial Institutions.  If a bank has a wholly owned subsidiary with mortgage brokers and solicitors, those brokers and solicitors fall with the regulatory scheme of both the Division of Financial Institutions and the Division of Professional and Vocational Licensing.

     Your Committee further finds that the Division of Financial Institutions' regulatory scheme is more stringent, and therefore, your Committee has amended this measure to provide a narrow exemption for mortgage brokers and solicitors of a wholly owned bank subsidiary from the regulation of the Division of Professional and Vocational Licensing.  In addition, your Committee has amended this measure to make technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purpose of clarity.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1006, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1006, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair