Report Title:

Boards and commissions; Automatic sunset

Description:

Amends Regulatory Licensing Reform Act policies regarding regulation of professions and vocations to prohibit or require termination of regulations that are unnecessary or redundant of existing protections. Requires DCCA to sunset a board or commission in the absence of an act expressly prohibiting the sunset and upon any finding by the Legislative Auditor that the board or commission is redundant or unnecessary.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1761

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to boards and commissions.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The Hawaii Regulatory Licensing Reform Act, Act 70, Session Laws of Hawaii 1977 (Act 70), was enacted in response to growing concern over the rapid proliferation of professional and vocational licensing boards and commissions, and the perception that these served the interests of the regulated industry, rather than the interests of the consumer. Act 70 set forth criteria to be used to evaluate and determine whether existing regulatory programs should be modified or discontinued. The criteria were codified in section 26H-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Under Act 70, each chapter regulating a profession or vocation was scheduled for repeal. The statutorily-created board or commission of the regulated profession or vocation was required to assess whether its statutory program complied with the section 26H-2 criteria, and to submit a report to the legislature one year prior to the applicable repeal date. New legislation was required to continue regulatory programs reviewed under Act 70.

In 1979, the review component of this automatic review and repeal law was amended to require that assessments be performed by the legislative auditor. This amendment was made to "better provide for consumer interests. . . [and] a more objective viewpoint in assessing the value of the particular regulation under review." Recognizing that automatic review of every existing professional or vocational regulatory program consumed a disproportionate amount of the auditor's limited resources, in 1994 the legislature restricted automatic review and repeal to professional or vocational regulatory programs enacted after July 1, 1994. The legislature further limited this procedure in 1996 to regulatory programs actually listed in section 26H-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

The legislature finds that existing policies and procedures amplify the influence of special interests and should be re-examined to more fairly represent the interest of the general public. In addition, the legislature finds that the question of whether the activities of a board or commission further the policies that have been identified by the legislature as justifying regulation is a question best resolved through an assessment performed by an objective and informed agency like the legislative auditor. Once the question is resolved, state maintenance of the board or commission may not be justified, and should be discontinued without delay.

The purpose of this Act is to provide a mechanism for the expeditious removal of unnecessary vocational and professional regulatory boards and commissions that serve the interests of regulated industry, rather than the interests of the consumer.

SECTION 2. Section 26H-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§26H-2 Policy[.]; sunset required. (a) The legislature hereby adopts the following policies regarding the regulation of certain professions and vocations:

(1) The regulation and licensing of professions and vocations shall be undertaken only where reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety, or welfare of consumers of the services; the purpose of regulation shall be the protection of the public welfare and not that of the regulated profession or vocation;

(2) Regulation in the form of full licensure or other restrictions on certain professions or vocations shall be retained or adopted when the health, safety, or welfare of the consumer may be jeopardized by the nature of the service offered by the provider;

(3) Evidence of abuses by providers of the service shall be accorded great weight in determining whether regulation is desirable;

(4) Professional and vocational regulations [which] that artificially increase the costs of goods and services to the consumer shall be avoided except in those cases where the legislature determines that this cost is exceeded by the potential danger to the consumer;

(5) Professional and vocational regulations shall be eliminated when [the legislature determines that] they [have no further benefits to] no longer benefit consumers;

(6) Regulation shall not unreasonably restrict entry into professions and vocations by all qualified persons; [and]

(7) Fees for regulation and licensure shall be imposed for all vocations and professions subject to regulation; provided that the aggregate of the fees for any given regulatory program shall not be less than the full cost of administering that program[.]; and

(8) Professional and vocational regulation shall not be imposed or shall be eliminated if:

(A) Regulatory objectives may be undertaken by the industry to be regulated, and governmental participation is not necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare;

(B) Other private or public agencies provide adequate protections; or

(C) Regulatory objectives may be cost-effectively reassigned within the department of commerce and consumer affairs.

(b) Upon any finding by the legislative auditor, based on the factors identified in subsection (a)(8), that a professional or vocational board or commission should be eliminated, the department of commerce and consumer affairs shall immediately sunset the board or commission in the absence of enacted legislation expressly prohibiting the sunset of the board or commission."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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