STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1118

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   S.B. No. 877

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 877, S.D. 2, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to protect underground infrastructure by making the Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) One Call Center pilot program (Program) permanent.  The Program provides advance warnings to excavators of the location of subsurface facilities before the excavation begins.

     PUC, the One Call Center Advisory Committee, Building Industry Association-Hawaii, Hawaiian Telcom, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawaii Electric Light Company, Maui Electric Company, General Contractors Association of Hawaii, and The Gas Company testified in support of this bill.  The Hawaii Pest Control Association provided comments.

     Your Committee finds that certain excavation activities may warrant an exemption from the Program because they do not appear to pose the types of risks to underground facilities that the Program was established to address.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill by replacing its entire contents with the provisions of H.B. No. 1059, H.D. 2, 2009.  As amended, this bill differs substantively from the draft received by your Committee by including an exemption from the Program for any pest control activity regulated under Chapter 460J, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 877, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 877, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

ROBERT N. HERKES, Chair