CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 141

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2019

RE: S.B. No. 1213

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

C.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sirs:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 1213, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROCUREMENT FILING FEE,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to require a party initiating a bid challenge to pay the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs a non-refundable filing fee for contracts with an estimated value of $500,000 or more to partially cover the costs of conducting the bid challenge proceeding.

Your Committee on Conference finds that the Office of Administrative Hearings in the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (Department) conducts bid challenge hearings, which are expensive and labor intensive. However, the Department is entirely self-funded and receives no appropriation of funds to defray the cost of these proceedings. Therefore, the costs to conduct bid challenge proceedings are indirectly paid for by the license registration fees assessed by the Department from registrants who have no involvement in the procurement process. This measure requires any party initiating a bid challenge for contracts of at least $500,000 to pay the Department a non-refundable fee, which will be used exclusively to help defray the costs of the administrative review of bid challenges.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by changing its effective date to upon approval.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1213, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1213, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ AARON LING JOHANSON Co-Chair	____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER Chair
____________________________ STACELYNN K. M. ELI Co-Chair	____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH Co-Chair