CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 35

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2019

RE: S.B. No. 767

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. 767, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONTRACTORS,"

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 raise the threshold under the contractor licensing law's handyman exemption from $1,000 to $1,500 and make it applicable only to the cost of labor and materials.

Your Committee on Conference finds handymen provide a valuable service by doing maintenance, minor jobs, and projects that are too small for a licensed contractor to take on, especially in rural areas and neighbor islands where there is a smaller pool of contractors available.  The costs of living, housing, materials, and inflation have increased since the handyman exemption was last raised in 1992. This measure provides a modest increase to the handyman exemption to help keep pace with current increases in these costs.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by changing its effective date to July 1, 2019.

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. 767, 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. 767, 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

____________________________ ROY M. TAKUMI Chair

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER Chair