STAND. COM. REP. NO. 960

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1059

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1059, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ONE CALL CENTER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to protect Hawaii's underground infrastructure by repealing the sunset date on the One Call Center pilot program.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Public Utilities Commission, the One Call Advisory Committee, Hawaiian Telcom, The Gas Company, Building Industry Association Hawaii, Hawaii Pest Control Association, and General Contractors Association of Hawaii.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that the One Call Center and its mandatory Call Before You Dig program is effective at regulating excavation activity, minimizing disruption of service to operator customers, and protecting the safety of excavators.  Your Committee also finds that the One Call Center was always intended to be an on-going program persisting beyond the sunset date of the original legislation.  Your Committee further finds that in other states where pest control procedures are performed similarly to those performed in Hawaii, shallow trenches or holes necessary for those procedures have proven to be nondisruptive of underground infrastructure and have merited exemption from excavation limitations.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by

     (1)  Adding a three-year sunset provision to the exemption for pest control operators in order for the Public Utilities Commission to determine whether this exemption should be made permanent; and   

     (2)  Making nonsubstantive technical amendments for the purpose of clarity and accuracy in the language of this measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1059, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1059, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair