HB124

SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to repeal the public utilities commission special fund pursuant to the recommendation by the auditor in auditor's report no. 18-17 and to transfer the unencumbered balances to the general fund.

SECTION 2. Section 92-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§92-21 Copies of records; other costs and fees. Except as otherwise provided by law, a copy of any government record, including any map, plan, diagram, photograph, photostat, or geographic information system digital data file, which is open to the inspection of the public, shall be furnished to any person applying for the [~~same~~] record by the public officer having charge or control thereof upon the payment of the reasonable cost of reproducing [~~such~~] the copy. Except as provided in section 91-2.5, the cost of reproducing any government record, except geographic information system digital data, shall not be less than 5 cents per page, sheet, or fraction thereof. The cost of reproducing geographic information system digital data shall be in accordance with rules adopted by the agency having charge or control of that data. [~~Such~~] The reproduction cost shall include but shall not be limited to labor cost for search and actual time for reproducing, material cost, including electricity cost, equipment cost, including rental cost, cost for certification, and other related costs. All fees shall be paid in by the public officer receiving or collecting the same to the state director of finance, the county director of finance, or to the agency or department by which the officer is employed, as government realizations[~~; provided that fees collected by the public utilities commission pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the public utilities commission special fund established under section 269-33~~]."

SECTION 3. Section 269-16.92, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) Upon a determination that any telecommunications carrier has engaged in conduct that is prohibited in subsection (a), the public utilities commission shall order the carrier to take corrective action as deemed necessary by the commission and may subject the telecommunications carrier to administrative penalties pursuant to section 269-28. [~~Any proceeds from administrative penalties collected under this section shall be deposited into the public utilities commission special fund.~~]

The commission, if consistent with the public interest, may suspend, restrict, or revoke the registration, charter, or certificate of the telecommunications carrier, thereby denying, modifying, or limiting the right of the telecommunications carrier to provide service in this State."

SECTION 4. Section 269-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) and (b) to read as follows:

"(a) Sections 607‑5 to 607-9 shall apply to the public utilities commission and each commissioner, as well as to the supreme and circuit courts[, and all costs and fees paid or collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited with the director of finance to the credit of the public utilities commission special fund established under section 269-33].

(b) There also shall be paid to the public utilities commission in each of the months of July and December of each year, by each public utility subject to investigation by the public utilities commission, a fee equal to one-fourth of one per cent of the gross income from the public utility's business during the preceding year, or the sum of $30, whichever is greater. [~~This fee shall be deposited with the director of finance to the credit of the public utilities commission special fund.~~]"

SECTION 5. Section 271-36, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-36 Fees and charges. (a) Every common carrier by motor vehicle and every contract carrier by motor vehicle shall pay to the commission, in April of each year, a fee equal to one-fourth of one per cent of the gross revenues from the carrier's business during the preceding calendar year, or the sum of $20, whichever is greater. Gross revenues include all revenues received from services connected with or incidental to the transportation of persons or the transportation of property, as defined under section 271-4.

(b) Every common carrier by motor vehicle and every contract carrier by motor vehicle paying a fee under subsection (a) may impose a surcharge to recover the amount paid above one-eighth of one per cent of gross income. The surcharge imposed shall not be subject to the notice, hearing, and approval requirements of this chapter; provided that the surcharge may be imposed by the utility only after thirty days' notice to the public utilities commission. Unless ordered by the public utilities commission, the surcharge shall be imposed only until the conclusion of the carrier's next rate case; provided that the surcharge shall be subject to refund with interest at the public utility's authorized rate of return on rate base if the utility collects more money from the surcharge than actually paid due to the increase in the fee to one-fourth of one per cent.

(1) Applications for certificates and permits as provided by sections 271-12 and 271-13;

(2) Applications for extensions of certificates as provided by section 271-12(d);

(3) Applications for temporary certificates and permits as provided by section 271-16; and

(4) Applications for authority to convey property necessary or useful in the performance of duties to the public or to transfer certificates or permits or to purchase motor carrier stock, as provided in section 271-18.

The fees charged pursuant to this subsection shall be paid to the commission at the time of submission of the application.

(d) The commission may charge an amount it deems necessary and reasonable to defray the cost of supplying to the carriers and the public the application forms and other forms, schedules, tariffs, copies of rules, and other pamphlets and materials it provides by individual copy or in bulk.

[(e) All of the fees and charges collected under this section shall be deposited with the director of finance to the credit of the public utilities commission special fund established under section 269-33.]"

SECTION 6. Section 269E-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) To finance the establishment and operation of the center and the administrative costs of the commission, operators shall pay to the commission a fee in an amount and at a schedule determined by the commission. The commission may also assess fees on excavators. [~~All fees paid by operators and excavators shall be deposited with the director of finance to the credit of the public utilities commission special fund.~~]"

SECTION 7. Section 269-33, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["~~§269-33 Public utilities commission special fund.~~ (a) There is established in the state treasury a public utilities commission special fund to be administered by the public utilities commission. The proceeds of the fund shall be used by the public utilities commission and the division of consumer advocacy of the department of commerce and consumer affairs for all expenses incurred in the administration of chapters 269, 271, 271G, 269E, and 486J, and for costs incurred by the department of commerce and consumer affairs to fulfill the department's limited oversight and administrative support functions; provided that the expenditures of the public utilities commission shall be in accordance with legislative appropriations. On a quarterly basis, an amount not exceeding thirty per cent of the proceeds remaining in the fund after the deduction for central service expenses, pursuant to section 36-27, shall be allocated by the public utilities commission to the division of consumer advocacy and deposited in the compliance resolution fund established pursuant to section 26-9(o); provided that all moneys allocated by the public utilities commission from the fund to the division of consumer advocacy shall be in accordance with legislative appropriations.

(b) All moneys appropriated to, received, and collected by the public utilities commission that are not otherwise pledged, obligated, or required by law to be placed in any other special fund or expended for any other purpose shall be deposited into the public utilities commission special fund including, but not limited to, all moneys received and collected by the public utilities commission pursuant to sections 92-21, 269-28, 269-30, 271-27, 271-36, 271G-19, 269E-6, 269E-14, and 607-5.

~~(c) The public utilities commission shall submit an update as part of its annual report submitted pursuant to section 269-5 detailing all funds received and all moneys disbursed out of the fund.~~

~~(d) All moneys in excess of $1,000,000 remaining on balance in the public utilities commission special fund on June 30 of each year shall lapse to the credit of the state general fund.~~"]

SECTION 8. On July 1, 2019, all unencumbered balances remaining in the public utilities commission special fund repealed by section 7 of this Act shall lapse to the general fund.

SECTION 9. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2019.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	124
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII