STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3289

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2639

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2639 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require a wireless telecommunications service provider that receives an opt-out request from a victim of domestic abuse to transfer the billing authority and all rights to the shared wireless plan to the victim or remove the victim from the shared wireless plan and assign the victim a substitute telephone number, without charge, penalty, or fee;

     (2)  Specify that there is no cause of action against a wireless telecommunications service provider, its officers, employees, or agents for transferring billing authority and all rights to a wireless telephone number to a domestic abuse victim; and

     (3)  Expand the acts of abuse, the victims of which may be eligible for a release from shared wireless plans by changing references to "domestic violence", as defined in section 321-471, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), to "domestic abuse", as defined in section 586-1, HRS.

     Your Committee did not receive any written testimony relating to this measure.

     Your Committee finds that victims of domestic abuse often find themselves struggling to escape their abusive situations.  The financial and contractual obligations associated with wireless plans often act as a barrier that prevents a domestic abuse survivor from leaving an abusive relationship.  Act 219, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015 (Act 219), addressed these barriers by, among other things, requiring wireless telecommunications service providers to release domestic violence victims from shared service plans upon request and with documentation.  This measure expands on the requirements of Act 219 by:  providing necessary liability protection for wireless telecommunications service providers who transfer the wireless telephone number of a victim of domestic abuse; providing wireless telecommunications service providers with a reasonable deadline to complete the transfer or change of service for a victim of domestic abuse; and ensuring that the transfer of billing authority or removal or release of a victim of domestic abuse from a wireless plan is done without charge, penalty, or fee.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2639, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair