Senate Standing Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection

Okay. Good morning and welcome to this Hawaii State Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, 9:30 AM decision making hearing in Conference Room 229 at the Hawaii State Capitol. We're here to make recommendations on three measures that were heard in a prior Committee hearing. The first is SB 588, SD 1.

The recommendation on this measure is to pass with amendments. We'll defect the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2050, to foster further discussion on this measure and keep the Bill moving. There are also some technical, substantive—non-substantive—amendments to be made throughout the measure. Any discussion? Okay. Seeing none. Vice Chair passing with amendments.

Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. The next two measures on this agenda, SB 1449, SD 1, and SB 1281, SD 1. We are going to defer decision making on for one day and reconvene here tomorrow in Room 229, Wednesday, February 26th, 2025, at 9:31 AM. Hopefully have some proposed amendments to recommend to the Committee.

The intention is to move both of these measures, but we wanted to take one more look at it. And so, that's the 9:30 agenda. We're adjourned.

Okay. Good morning and welcome.

This is our Hawaii State Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, 9:32 AM decision making hearing in Conference Room 229 at the Hawaii State Capitol. We are making recommendations on four measures that were previously heard in their respective subject matter committees. We've received written testimony on the measures and are prepared to vote.

The first measure is SB 1245, SD 1, relating to pharmacists. The recommendation on this measure is to pass with amendments. We will adopt the Board of Pharmacy's requested amendment, changing the implementation date to July 1, 2026. We will keep the defective effective date on this measure.

We will adopt the proposed amendments from the Department of Human Services and the proposed amendments from Walgreens. And there are technical, non-substantive amendments throughout the measure. Any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair passing with amendments. Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. The next measure is SB 1286, SD 1, relating to motor vehicles. Members, there was no supportive opposite—supporting testimony—on this measure. I would note, the Office of Consumer Protection would like to work on it with the introducer. So, we will defer this—we will defer this measure indefinitely and try and take it up next year.

Next measure is SB 1287, relating to transparency. The recommendation is to pass with amendments, adopting the proposed amendments of the Office of Consumer Protection. There are technical, non-substantive amendments also to be made.

And I'll note, there's already a defective effective date on this measure. Any questions or comments? Okay. Seeing none. Vice Chair passing with amendments. Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Thank you. Next measure—last measure—on this 9:32 AM agenda is SB 1298, SD 1, relating to recycling. The recommendation on this measure is to keep the measure going and continue the discussion. We'll deflect the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2050, and make technical, non-substantive amendments. Members, any discussion? Okay. If none, Vice Chair passing with amendments.

Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Okay, we're adjourned.

Morning and welcome. This is the Hawaii State Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection. This is our Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, 9:34 AM committee hearing in Conference Room 229 at the Hawaii State Capitol. We are taking testimony on three measures that are—that were—single referred to the Consumer Protection Committee. The first is SB 419, relating to insurance.

This measure requires each motor vehicle insurance policy to cover the replacement cost of a child passenger restraint system damaged during a collision for which liability coverage under the policy is applicable. Attorney General's Office, with comments. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, chair, vice chair, and members of committee. My name is Andrew Kin, Deputy Attorney General. We provide our written comments suggesting a clause to protect against possible contract impairment. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And we also have late testimony from April Bautista in support. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Members, questions? Okay. The next measure is SB 942, relating to rental applications.

This measure prohibits landlords from rejecting a rental application solely due to an applicant's inability to provide a recent paycheck, provided that the applicant can provide evidence of sufficient liquid assets or unearned income to cover the rental costs. James Nelson in support.

Good morning, Chair. I'm James Nelson, in support of this measure. Thank you for hearing us. I know this is a very busy week for you. I will stand on my testimony in support. I did look briefly at the Realtors Association amendments that they provided in their testimony.

I'm not entirely sure that they're necessary because the whole idea of this is to just let applicants for rentals produce what they have in terms of financial information and let landlords ask for something other than paychecks. So, I don't think this is some widespread, pernicious conspiracy against retirees, but it does—the situation kind of does trap people occasionally that have assets that don't come in the form of monthly earned income.

So, I appreciate your support, and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Thank you.

Thank you. Realtors, with comments.

I was just going to stand, but just to clarify—aloha, Lyndsey Garcia with the Hawaii Realtors. Good morning, everyone. So, the Committee is inclined to pass the measure. We, we offered some friendly amendments just because, as licensees, we have a fiduciary duty to our client to ensure that rent can be made. And so, that's why we, we provided these clarifying amendments to ensure that we can uphold that fiduciary duty. Thank you.

Thank you. Also, have late testimony from Veronica Moore, in support. Michael Older, in support, and April Bautista, in support. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Members, questions? Okay, we'll move to the last measure on the agenda, SB 1142, relating to insurance proceeds.

This measure requires mortgage services to comply with certain requirements regarding the disbursement of insurance proceeds from residential real estate that has been destroyed or damaged. DCCA, Division of Financial Institutions with comments. Good morning.

Morning, chair, vice chair, members of committee. Dwight Young, Commissioner of Finance Institutions. We stand on our written testimony. I'm here if you have any questions.

Thank you very much. Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, in support. Good morning.

Good morning. Aloha kakahiaka. Madelyn McKeague, here on behalf of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, standing on our written testimony in support of this measure. Just wanting to emphasize that at CNHA's Recovery Center, we have seen firsthand how difficult the insurance proceeds have been. It's been incredibly difficult, even with a care worker, but almost impossible without one.

I think this measure is one of many critical ones this session that can have us learn from the lessons. This wasn't the first disaster, and it's certainly not going to be the last. And we urge you to pass this measure. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. We have testimony in support from Robert Hugh Joslin, President of Hawaii Public Adjusters, Lahaina Strong, in support, and late testimony in support from the Mortgage Bankers Association of Hawaii. And 23 other individuals submitting testimony, all in support. Members--oh, is there anyone else who would like to testify? Members, questions? Okay.

Oh, that's Mr. Young from the DCCA. Okay. If there are no questions, then, are we prepared to move into decision making? Okay. So, for the first measure, SB 419, relating to insurance, the recommendation is to pass with amendments, adopting the Attorney General's proposed amendments.

There are technical, non-substantive amendments throughout and we'll defect the effective date of the measure to July 1, 2050. Any discussion? Seeing None. Vice Chair passing with amendments. Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. Next measure is SB 942, relating to rental applications. Recommendation is to pass with amendments, adopting the Realtors' proposed amendments and defecting the effective date of the measure to July 1, 2050. Question?

Okay, I do have some reservations on the Realtors' amendments, particularly, since many of the retirees and elders that we have in our community, who are facing a lot of the insurance premium challenges, may not necessarily, you know, have assets or, I mean, may not necessarily have evidence of recent paychecks.

And I think that's kind of a, an unnecessary burden in many of those instances. So, I'll be voting with reservations.

So noted. Any other comments or questions?

We got a defective date.

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

Okay. If there are no other comments or hard unanswerable questions in the decision making, the recommendation is to pass with amendments and the Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. The last measure is SB 1142, relating to insurance proceeds. The recommendation on this measure is to pass with amendments, adopting technical non-substantive amendments, and we'll defect the effective date to July 1, 2050. Senator Richards.

Yeah. Before we go there, there were some comments from the AG about language, is that stuff we'll be working on later?

This is on 1142.

I don't think it's 419. Yeah, 1142. So, you're talking about language in the 1366 and 1047. I assume it's got a defective date?

It does have a defective date. So, so the recommendation would be to—oh, it's, it's from the, the DCCA.

Oh, the DCCA? Gotcha.

Yeah, they're—the DCCA testimony does note that they have a preferred language in another measure. And so, the recommendation is to keep this vehicle moving with a defective date. Yeah. Any other discussion? Okay. Passing with amendments. Chair votes "Aye."

[Roll Call]

Okay, we're adjourned. Thank you very much.