STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1101-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   S.B. No. 3016

      S.D. 1

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 3016, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MUTUAL BENEFIT SOCIETIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure competition and consumer choice regarding mutual benefit societies (MBS) by:

(1)  Establishing a cap on the deposit required to operate a MBS at not more than $20,000,000; and

(2)  Deleting the benefit fund requirement under section 432:1-401, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs testified in support of this bill.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1)  Requiring the Insurance Commissioner to appoint an independent auditor to conduct a financial and operational audit of mutual benefit societies established in Hawaii prior to 1950;

     (2)  Appropriating an unspecified sum for these audits; and

(3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3016, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3016, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair