STAND. COM. REP. NO. 561

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 58

       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. 58 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DENTISTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to allow for the independent administration of a deceased dentist's estate.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Dental Examiners (Board), the Hawaii Dental Association (HDA), and three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that seventy per cent of Hawaii's dentists are sole proprietors that do not have the benefit of the Professional Corporations Act of chapter 415, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), which provides for the winding down or selling of the professional's business upon their death or disability.  As a result, legal issues arise as to how a dental practice is to be handled by a dentist's estate or a dentist's legal guardian in a situation where a dentist dies unexpectedly or becomes incapacitated.  The intent of this measure is to address the issues that arise under those types of circumstances by providing for the temporary, but continued, operation of the dental practice.

     Your Committee has amended this measure, based upon the testimony provided by both the Board and HDA, by moving the substance of the proposed new section while maintaining the measure's original intent, to section 448-1, HRS, thus adding an exemption to the practice of dentistry for actions performed by executors and administrators of a deceased dentist's estate, as well as for actions of a legal guardian or authorized representative on behalf of an incapacitated dentist.

     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. 58, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 58, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair