STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1220

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   S.B. No. 1154

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 1154 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE LIQUOR COMMISSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to reduce, from forty-five to thirty days, the minimum time between notice of a public hearing and the date the hearing is held for a liquor license application in a county with a population of five hundred thousand or more.  

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Liquor Commission of the City and County of Honolulu and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that obtaining a liquor license is a crucial step for many new or expanding businesses.  Currently, liquor license applicants must wait at least forty-five days after notice of a public hearing until the date the hearing is held.  During this forty-five day period, an applicant may be prohibited from opening or expanding their business because the liquor license has not yet been approved.  As a result, the applicant may not be able to hire staff and generate revenue required for the applicant to undertake the capital investment necessary for the new or expanded business.  Reducing the required wait time from forty-five days to thirty days between notice and hearing would expedite the process to obtain a liquor license and benefit Hawaii's economy by more quickly generating additional revenue streams for businesses. 

Your Committee also finds that the public hearing process to comment on liquor license applications is a valuable community tool.  Communities have the ability to shape their neighborhoods by presenting opposition to, or support of, a liquor license application.  Your Committee believes that thirty days is sufficient notice to alert communities in larger, more urban counties, of a public hearing on a liquor license application and gather community support or opposition.

     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. 1154 and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

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

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair