STAND. COM. REP. NO. 388

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1437

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1437 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIFORM INFORMATION PRACTICES ACT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the circumstances under which complaints submitted to state and county departments and agencies shall be made available to the public in order to preserve the public's interest in obtaining information while protecting the integrity of an ongoing investigation or proceeding.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS and forty private citizens.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Information Practices, Office of the Lieutenant Governor; the Office of Consumer Protection, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; the Regulated Industries Complaints Office, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; and The League of Women Voters of Hawaii. 

 

Your Committee finds that the disclosure of complaints filed with state and county agencies gives consumers access to important information that they may use to make informed decisions regarding service providers throughout the State.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1437 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

		____________________________ JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair