Bill Text: HI HCR119 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Small Business Regulatory Review Board

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-04-03 - (H) Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Cabanilla, Carroll, Mizuno, Thielen excused (4). [HCR119 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HCR119-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	119
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE GOVERNOR TO PROPERLY support THE SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY REVIEW BOARD of THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND TOURISM in assisting HAWAII'S SMALL BUSINESSES.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Small Business Regulatory Review Board (Board) acts as the watchdog for small businesses within state government; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Board's role is to review state administrative rules or county ordinances that may adversely affect small businesses and recommend to the Legislature or the county council or mayor, as the case may be, that the state or county agencies should review and modify overly burdensome rules or ordinances and evaluate the responsiveness of state or county agencies to small business; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Board is dedicated to the success of the State's small businesses, as well as improving relationships with state and county departments, and has been an instrumental voice within the small business community; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Board has done an effective and efficient job for the State in generating revenue, advertising, and cutting regulatory red tape for small businesses; and

 

     WHEREAS, small business owners who serve on the Board volunteer their time and depend upon the staff of the Board and the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism for support and assistance in fulfilling the responsibilities of the Board; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State must demonstrate its recognition of the important role that the Board plays in assisting Hawaii's small businesses by providing the Board with adequate resources, including office space, staff, and budget; and

 

     WHEREAS, the position of Small Business Advocate provides a crucial liaison between the Board and its many members; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Board is currently housed within the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; and

 

     WHEREAS, budget cuts and the shortage of staff in the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism have resulted in the elimination of the full-time Small Business Advocate position; and

 

WHEREAS, the duties of the Small Business Advocate have been assumed by an already lean staff in an attempt to continue the work of the Board in assisting Hawaii's small business community; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's reductions of the Board's staffing and resources and the potential reduction in funding of the relatively small cost of transportation of members to Board meetings and the printing and distribution of mandated reports severely undermine the Board's mission to assist Hawaii small business owners; and

 

     WHEREAS, shifting resources away from the Board and elimination of the Small Business Advocate position have crippled the only viable mechanism to assist Hawaii's small business community in reducing the potential adverse impact of proposed new or amended administrative rules; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature strongly urges the Governor to recognize the important role that the Small Business Regulatory Board fulfills as an agency within the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and to demonstrate the State's support for the mission of the Board, by providing adequate resources including office, space, staff, and budget funding that will permit the Board to continue assisting small businesses in the State; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, and the Chairperson of the Small Business Regulatory Review Board.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Small Business Regulatory Review Board