STAND. COM. REP. NO. 75

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 259

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 259 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RECORDKEEPING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish recordkeeping requirements for secondhand dealers, requiring records to be retained for two years from the date of sale; and

(2) Amend and standardize recordkeeping requirements for pawnbrokers, requiring records to be retained for two years from the date of maturity.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Kauaʻi County Council.

Your Committee finds that pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers stimulate local business economics by reusing or recycling unwanted articles that still have value. Your Committee further finds that recycling is a critical part of preparing for the future of the State by combatting the detrimental effects on the climate caused by overuse of the limited landfill space available on the islands. However, if recyclable articles of resale are not properly marked, they may end up in the waste management system.

Accordingly, your Committee finds that it is beneficial to the State to support businesses that reuse or recycle articles without the undue burden of the responsibility of retaining records of transaction for an unspecified amount of time. This measure accomplishes this by requiring businesses that resell items to maintain records of transactions for two years, which will prevent items from unnecessarily entering the overburdened waste management system and will also allow law enforcement to pursue criminal investigations and take enforcement actions without imposing a wasteful recordkeeping system on local businesses.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2077, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 259, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 259, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs,

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BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair