STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2483

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2392

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2392 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require professional and vocational licensing authorities to accept military education, training, and service toward the qualification for a license and to adopt rules accordingly.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the United States Department of Defense State Liaison Office; The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; and Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Chapter.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Hawaii State Center for Nursing; University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene; Niwao & Roberts, CPAs; and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that service members who leave the military often experience delays finding post-service employment.  Transitioning service members leave the military with documented training and experience that can prepare them for civilian employment; however, this documentation is not always used by state entities when determining qualifications for an occupational license.

     Your Committee has heard the concerns that every licensing authority in the State has its own statutes and rules, with specific requirements for licensure.  However, your Committee notes that this measure is not intended to require state licensing authorities to accept any military education, training, or service regardless of whether the education, training, or service has any relevance to the specific licensing area.  Rather, this measure is intended to support military veterans by recognizing that the military education, training, or service veterans receive while employed in the United States Armed Forces or Reserves is substantially equal to some of the requirements mandated by the State for obtaining certain licenses.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring professional and vocational licensing authorities to consider, rather than accept, relevant military education, training, or service that is substantially equivalent to state standards for licensure;

     (2)  Deleting the requirement for licensing authorities to adopt rules to implement the provisions of this measure;

     (3)  Requiring the Licensing Administrator of the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to communicate the intent and parameters of this measure to each licensing authority and submit a report to the Legislature detailing plans for the implementation of this measure no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2013;

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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 S.B. No. 2392, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2392, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair