Senate Standing Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection

Welcome everyone to the Joint Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary. Joint decision making only hearing on three bills this Wednesday morning, March 4th at 9:25 in Room 229. First Bill up is SB 23, Senate Bill 2386.

This clarifies that the requirement to disclose hourly rates or salary ranges on job listings applies to full time, part time and temporary or seasonal employment and exempts employers having fewer than 25 employees rather than 50 from the which is the current law. Recommendation on SB2386 is to go ahead and pass fundamentally okay.

Unamended already has a defective effective date. Questions or concerns. Unamended questions or concerns if not Senator Gabbard.

[Roll Call]

CPN same recommendation. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Next Bill is yours.

Next measure is SB 2804, Senate Draft 1, relating to commerce. The recommendation on this measure is to pass unamended. Members, any comments or questions? Seeing none. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you. Next up for JDC members, same recommendation, unamended. Questions or concerns? If not, Senator Gabbard.

[Roll Call]

Okay. Thank you.

CPN, same recommendation, passing unamended. Chair votes aye.

You were first.

Oh, oh, I'm sorry.

You can vote on it again. I don't mind.

I'm sorry. I lost track. Now, we're on 2852.

2852. Yes. SB 2852. This establishes it as an unlawful discriminatory practice for a place of public accommodation to deny a person with disability full and equal enjoyment of information related to their services by their services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations by requiring use of information and communications technology that is not accessible to the person.

Recommendation on SB 2852 is to pass as is. Questions or concerns? If not, Senator Gabbard.

[Roll Call]

Okay. Members, now, the recommendation on SB 2852, SD 1, is to pass unamended. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you everyone for being here. JDC Members, we do have another agenda downstairs at 9:40, is it? 9:40. Thank you for being here. We're adjourned.

We're convening this 9:30 AM CPN Committee agenda. It's Wednesday, March 4th, 2026, in Hawaii State Capitol Conference Room 229. We're here to make recommendations on a number of measures that were previously heard in their respective subject matter committees. We will not take oral testimony on this agenda, but we have received written testimony and reviewed it.

The first measure is SB 2975, Senate Draft 1, relating to marine life conservation districts. The recommendation on this measure, noting the defective effective date, is to pass unamended. Members, any questions or comments? Okay. If not, Vice Chair, passing unamended. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. The next measure is Senate Bill 3019, Senate Draft 1, relating to consumer protection.

Having received the prior concurrence of the Water and Land Chair, the recommendation is to pass with amendments, adding language to require refunds of certain fees in the event of a cancellation, as requested in the testimony by the National Consumers League, and defect the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2050. Members, any discussion? Seeing none. Passing with amendments. Chair votes Aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. The next measure is SB 3231, relating to agriculture, agricultural districts. The recommendation on this measure, having received prior concurrence from both chairs, prior chairs, is to pass with amendments, adopting the requested recommend, requested amendments, from the Hawaii Real Estate Commission.

And we will also defect the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2050. Members, any comments or questions? Seeing none. Passing with amendments. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much.

Can I take a recess? Okay, quick recess.

Okay. Reconvening this 9:30 AM decision making in the CPN Committee. The next measure is SB 2378, Senate draft one, relating to housing.

Having just now received prior concurrence from both earlier chairs, we will pass this measure with amendments, adopting the requested amendments from the Plumbers and Fitters Union Local 675 and defecting the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2050. Members, any discussion? Okay. Seeing none. Passing with amendments. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you very much. Next measure is SB 3062, SD 1, relating to liquor. Also receiving—after receiving prior concurrence, the recommendation is to pass with amendments clarifying that the sale or provision of liquor shall be subject to the restrictions of Subsection 281-4C, Hawaii Revised Statutes. We'll also defect the effective date of this measure to July 1, 2050.

Keep the conversation going. Any comments or questions, Members? If not, chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

Thank you. We'll adjourn this agenda.

We are convening this 9:34am agenda on Wednesday March 4, 2026 in Conference Room 229 to reconsider the decision the previous decision made by this Committee on February 25, 2026 regarding Senate Bill 3255 relating to currency Members. This measure requires retail merchants to accept cash payments in person transactions.

The recommendation is to reconsider this measure and add a part 2 to Chapter 481b to allow cash transaction rounding. After we made the recommendation on this measure, we had some conversations with Members of the small business community.

And my recommendation is that we do consider the penny guidance because it's a much bigger problem than I think we were made aware in the Committee and there are no other vehicles discussing this subject matter. So it would be one year, you know, one year's time for us to reconsider it.

And rather than having the small business community reach out to the Governor for an emergency order, we should just legislatively keep this, this issue going. Members, any comments or rounding up?

Would we need to be rounding up or?

So the, the guidance that we will be proposing comes from the provisions in House Bill 2346, which basically says if it's on the three, then you round up one or two, you round down. I must admit that there is a defective effective date on this measure. The guidance is a little cumbersome.

And so because there are no other vehicles addressing this issue, and it's become a much larger issue than I realized last week, I'm asking the Committee for some latitude to move the Bill along so that we can work this out with our partners in the House because it's a really confusing situation for business owners.

We do want them to keep using cash. Yeah, they like it too. Any other questions or comments? Okay. If not passing with amendments. Chair votes aye.

I thank you. Vice Chair also votes Aye. Senator Lamaosao?

Aye.

Senator McKelvey?

Yeah.

Senator Awa.

Aye.

Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you very much. This agenda is adjourned. Okay. Convening this 9:35am Regular CPN agenda on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 in Conference Room 229 at the Hawaii State Capitol. We have three bills on the agenda. The first measure is SB 2607 relating to landscape architects.

Thank you very much. This agenda is adjourned.

This measure authorizes the Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors and Landscape Architects to determine the appropriate educational examination and experience requirements for landscape architect licensure. First up, we have the DCCA in support. Thank you for standing on your testimony in support. We also have Joel Kurokawa in support.

Yes, I'm Joel Kurokawa, landscape architect, also landscape architect member of the EASLA Board. Yes, we strongly support the this measure with amendments by work.

Thank you very much. Nancy Cassandro in support.

Yes, I'm in support. I also am a licensed landscape architect and part of the Board of I call it EASLA, E-A-S-L-A and stand in support of the amendments of the board.

Thank you very much. Okay. We also have testimony in support from Reed Mizue from the American Institute of Architects, Hawaii, Matt Miller, the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, Bradley Rawls of the American Society of Landscape Architects, all in support. And individual testimony and support from Judith Stilgenbauer and Kyle Sasaki.

Is there anyone else who would like to testify on this measure? Members, any questions? Okay, we'll move on to the next measure, SB 2623 SD1 relating to licensing. This measure authorizes the Board of Pharmacy to renew certificates of registration for registered pharmacy technicians and clarifies renewal requirements and restoration provisions for certificates of registration.

First up, Christopher Fernandez of the DCCA Board of Pharmacy in support.

Good morning, Chair. Members of the Committee, thank you for hearing this Bill. I'm here to stand on the board's testimonies supporting and offering comments. We do have an amendment that will exclude the pharmacy technicians from continuing education. This was part of- Sorry.

Sorry about that, Chair. So yeah, we did ask for-

If you could start over.

Sorry. Yes, my name is Christopher Fernandez, Executive Officer for the Board of Pharmacy. I'm here to stand on the board's testimony supporting and offering comments.

We do have an amendment in there that would exclude the pharmacy technicians from continuing education requirements for their renewal, which was intended in the Act 93.

Thank you very much. Corey Sanders of the Hawaii Pharmacists Association in support, online. Good morning.

Good morning. Chair Keohokalole. Vice Chair Fukunaga and Members of the Committee. Corrie Sanders, Executive Director of the Hawaii Pharmacists Association. We will stand on our written testimony in support and I'm happy to answer any questions on behalf of the Commissio.

Thank you very much. We also have written testimony and support from Walgreens. Thank you. And Johnny Mae Perry in support. Is there anyone else who would like to testify on this measure? Members, any questions? All right, we'll move on to the last measure on this agenda, SB2396 relating to property.

This measure requires the DCCA to establish and maintain a registry of agents designated to manage a property on behalf of an absentee owner or landlord.

It also requires an absentee owner or landlord to register any agents managing a property on their behalf with the DCCA. Prohibits an absentee owner or landlord from designating a tenant as an agent, establishes penalties for an absentee owner or landlord that fails to register an agent with the DCCA or fails to designate an agent, and requires member owners of a condo association who live outside the state or on another island of the state state from where the unit is located to provide the association's managing agent, resident agent or board with contact information of a designated on island agent for the unit, which shall be included on the address list maintained by the association.

First up, Lyndsey Garcia, Hawaii Realtors in support.

Thank you Chair. We stand on our testimony in support.

Thank you very much. Mishka Salva in support.

Good morning. Aloha Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection Chair Keohokalole, Vice Chair Fukunaga, Senators Lamosao and Senator McKelvey. My name is Mishka. I'm testifying as an individual.

I strongly support this measure to strengthen the existing on island agent law which already exists, as I said, and introduce penalties for violators requiring unalink agents for protects Hawaii residents, tenants and neighbors alike from long distance neglect of absentee landlords.

However, our current law does not include any enforcement or penalties and as a result, the good guys follow the rules while the rest of them, the rest of the people, they just ignore them. Many of us in Hawaii are grateful if we can just have a home to call our own.

My first and only home is one side of a duplex. I don't want more properties. I just want to make a home for my family.

My neighbor is great, but the owner of the unit next door lives in Florida over 4,000 miles away, five time zones difference and it can complicate things like maintenance or just issues between owners. Absentee landlords make it more difficult for tenants, neighbors and communities to thrive and ensure basic standard of living.

I'd like to also take the moment to encourage you to complete this Bill by filling in the blanks, the time frames. I defer to the Department of Commerce and Consumer affairs if they have any recommendations.

But in lieu of those recommendations, I'd like to suggest a period of less than 30 days for those requirements of registering that on island agent. Housing, owning housing in Hawaii should be a Kuleana to our people, the Aina and our communities. So let's make this law matter and let's pass the measure. Mahalo for scheduling this Bill.

I really appreciate it. And also thank you very much to Senator Ihara's office for the work on drafting this legislation and introducing the Bill. Thank you for considering my testimony.

Thank you very much. We also have the Palehua Townhouse Association in support, the Hawaii Council of Community Associations in opposition, Johnny Mae Perry in support, Abra Green in opposition, Don Wakukawa in support and Raylene Teno in opposition. Is there anyone else who would like to testify on this measure? Members, any questions? Vice Chair.

Perhaps if we can ask Ms. Garcia and Mr. Calva to return, you know, for- Oh, Salva. With respect to, you know, your particular situation which involves really two tenants of a absentee owner. You know, the opposition testimony filed by HCCA kind of references, you know, properties that involve hundreds and multiples of units.

And so the recommendations that they were offering in their testimony was to have the condo association record and maintain listings, you know, of the desired information.

In your instance, you know, it would seem that I don't know how you have your current arrangement, but if, you know, there were a way to accommodate your circumstances along with those of properties that involve hundreds of units, I think we would want to find a happy medium. Would that be something that would be workable?

I believe so. I guess it would depend on what the happy medium is. I do believe the Bill as it stands would address those, I mean it is part of the requirements, right for associations to have registered agents for the Bill or owners to register agents with their associations for the Bill.

So I'm not quite sure what the, what the opposition to it is.

I think the distinction is to have the condo association for each property be responsible for maintaining the list. You know, the condo managers could assist in assembling the listings and making sure that they're accurate and current.

But I think the logistical concerns that are being raised are kind of more applicable to multi unit structures rather than an instance in that is similar to what you've described.

And I agree with, with you Senator, that this Bill is very well intended and it really gets at an issue that we've been hearing. Just, you know, as the realtors, we. You are supposed to, as a property manager, you are supposed to designate somebody on island, but right now there's no central registry. Right.

That kind of holds that information. So if the tenant didn't receive that information, or if the property manager is not doing their due diligence and, and telling the tenant the correct information, how are you supposed to get that and then how are you supposed to reach out?

So that's why in our testimony we say this definitely deserves more discussion. And so we respectfully recommend deferring it to the landlord tenant working group so that they can work out all the kinks. But I believe that this is a very important aspect of the Bill that definitely needs to be discussed. Thank you.

Any other questions, Members? Good question, Senator McKelvey.

So you actually support the intent, but not the Bill right?

We definitely support the intent of what it's trying to get at,

But not the Bill, because you want the working group to continue to work on it, right?

Well, that and I think to Senators Fukunaga's point, there are some, some things that probably need to be further understood about how it actually be implemented.

Yeah, yeah, no, I totally understand. I also understand the logistics of DCCA and maybe there's talk of a private cause of action or some other way where a person doesn't get that information that the onus is on the association, it becomes self enforcing. Right. So. Okay, thanks, Jarrett.

Any other questions? Okay, if not, we'll take a recess.

Reconvening on this 9:35am CPN agenda to make recommendations on the three bills we've just heard. The first is SB2607 relating to landscape architects. The recommendation is to pass with amendments, adopting the requested amendments from the board, from the ISLA board and defecting the effective date of the measure to July 12050 Members. Any discussion? Okay. Seeing none. Vice Chair passing with amendments. Chair votes Aye.

Thank you. The CPN Members present any voting with reservations, objections hearing? None. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. The next measure is SB2623SD1 relating to licensing. The recommendation on this measure is to pass unamended. Any questions or comments? zero, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Excuse me. We will be passing with amendments, adopting the DCCA Board of Pharmacies. Clarifying amendments. Yeah. And questions? No questions. Comments? Okay, passing with amendments. Chair votes. I thank you.

If the CPN Members present anybody with reservations, objections, hearing none, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you. And then the last measure, SB2396. The recommendation is to pass with the amendments submitted by the Hawaii Council of Community Associations and defecting the effective date of the measure to July 12050. To keep this conversation going. Any questions or comments, Members? Okay. Seeing none. Passing with amendments. Chair votes Aye

Thank you. If the CPN Members present any. Voting with reservations, objections, hearing none, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, Members.

We're adjourned.