STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2518

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2793

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2793, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BROADBAND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to extend, until June 30, 2023, the provisions of Act 264, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013 (Act 264), which requires the State and the counties to take action within sixty days for broadband-related permit applications, requires the State to take action within one hundred forty-five days for use applications for broadband facilities within the conservation district, establishes other requirements regarding broadband-related permits, and subjects weight load for utility poles to capacities established by the Federal Communications Commission and Public Utilities Commission.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Cable Television Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.; Oceanic Time Warner Cable; and Hawaiian Telcom.

     Your Committee finds that streamlining broadband permits can facilitate statewide access to affordable, high-speed broadband services.  Improvements in the permitting process will allow for more private sector participants, which can lead to increased competition in the State's broadband sector.  Your Committee further finds that increasing Hawaii's broadband capacity will have numerous benefits across the State, such as:  enabling rapid access to information; accelerating business development; creating telehealth opportunities for the health care industry; enhancing education resources; and improving communications networks.  Accordingly, this measure extends the provisions of Act 264, which will enable greater efficiency in the broadband-related permitting process.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2793, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair