STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2484

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2432

       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. 2432 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make permanent the exclusion of pest control operators' activities from the definition of "excavation" under the One Call Center law by repealing the sunset provision in Act 72, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Pest Control Association and Accu-Pest & Termite Control Services.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Public Utilities Commission, The Gas Company, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, and One Call Concepts, Inc.

     Your Committee finds that this measure would exempt all pest control operators from having to comply with the State's One Call utility notification law.

     Your Committee has heard the concerns that requiring pest control operators to participate in One Call Center activities will increase costs of termite inspections, incur unnecessary delays, and subject pest control operators to severe penalties.  Your Committee is cognizant that complaints about the shallow excavation done by pest control companies are miniscule.

     Your Committee further finds that federal law permits a state to assess, rank, and consider appropriate participation by excavators in a state one call notification program.  Your Committee therefore concludes that amendments to this measure are necessary.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that only pest control activity that is not performed under contract with any state or county agency is exempt from the definition of "excavation";

     (2)  Extending the sunset date of Act 72, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, until June 30, 2014;

     (3)  Requiring exempt pest control operators to attend training provided by the Hawaii One Call Center;

     (4)  Requiring the Public Utilities Commission to conduct an investigation on the risks of residential pest control application and report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2014;

     (5)  Amending section 1 of this measure to reflect the amended purpose of this measure;

     (6)  Inserting an effective date of June 29, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and

     (7)  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. 2432, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2432, 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