STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2102
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 2810
Honorable Donna Mercado Kim
President of the Senate
Twenty-Seventh State Legislature
Regular Session of 2014
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2810 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 allow for more flexibility in the use of the State's One Call Center funding collected from civil penalties.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Public Utilities Commission and Division of Consumer Advocacy of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.
Your Committee finds that the One Call Center helps reduce the possibility of unintended damage to underground facilities, providing a valuable service for utilities, ratepayers, and the excavating community in Hawaii. Although the Public Utilities Commission is able to collect civil penalties for violations of Hawaii's One Call Center law, pursuant to existing law, these penalty amounts may only be used to educate the operating and excavating community in Hawaii and reduce the One Call Center's operating costs.
Your Committee further finds that this measure permits the Public Utilities Commission to utilize the collected penalties with more flexibility, thereby benefitting the One Call Center and the State's excavators beyond the limitations of the existing law and simplifying the process for expenditure of One Call Center penalty amounts.
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. 2810 and recommends that it pass Second Reading 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,
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____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair |
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