STAND. COM. REP. NO. 810

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 544

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 544 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PET INSURANCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a regulatory framework for pet insurance based on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Pet Insurance Model Act.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association; Crum & Forster; Pumpkin Insurance Services Inc.; Pets Best Insurance Services; Spot Pet Insurance; North American Pet Health Insurance Association; Hawaiian Humane Society; Independent Pet Group; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Your Committee finds that pet insurance is increasingly important to pet owners as the costs associated with veterinary care continue to rise. Pet owners ensure that their pets receive emergent medical care and regular wellness and preventive care. These regular veterinary visits are essential to maximizing an animal's health, longevity, and quality of life. However, this care is also expensive and the recurring expenses can leave little financial room should disease or injury occur. This measure therefore provides a regulatory framework for pet insurance in the State to protect consumers.

Your Committee notes that as this measure progresses through the legislative process, the appropriate effective date should be January 1, 2026, to provide insurance companies sufficient time to be in compliance with the provisions of this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing all references to the term "producer" to the standard term "insurance producer", for consistency with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' guidance;

(2) Extending the period for which a consumer may review and return a policy, certificate, or rider from fifteen days to thirty days;

(3) Deleting language that prohibited a pet insurer or insurance producer from marketing a wellness program during the sale, solicitation, or negotiation of pet insurance;

(4) Specifying that an insurance producer must be appropriately licensed under the property and casualty lines of authority before selling, soliciting, or negotiating a pet insurance product;

(5) Inserting language to prevent any application of this measure that would impair any contract existing as of the effective date of this measure in violation of the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution or Hawaii State Constitution;

(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of 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. 544, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 544, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair