STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1069-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 1880

H.D. 3

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1880, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to extend the sunset date of the limited exemption from electrician licensing requirements for individuals employed by electrical contractors retained by a public utility to perform high voltage (600 volts or higher) electrical work and who are deemed qualified by the electric utility.

The Board of Electricians and Plumbers, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, Ltd., The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, and POWER Contracting, LLC., testified in support of this measure. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 1186, AFL-CIO, testified in opposition.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, in conjunction with the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, to submit annual reports until 2023 detailing efforts in the State to train individuals in high voltage electrical work, the number of licensed electricians in the State qualified to do high voltage electrical work, and other information necessary to judge the continued necessity of this exemption; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

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 H.B. No. 1880, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1880, H.D. 3.

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

____________________________

ROY M. TAKUMI, Chair