STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1127

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 702

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 702, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANTITRUST,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to update, consistent with changes to federal antitrust law, remedies available under Hawaii's antitrust laws governing mergers and acquisitions by:

(1) Broadening the applicability of the law so that it applies to "persons" that include limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability limited partnerships, and limited liability companies; and

(2) Authorizing a "person" to seek injunctive relief against threatened loss or injury from a proposed merger or acquisition, without having to prove actual loss or damage.

This bill also gives the court the discretion to award attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing party in actions challenging a merger or acquisition.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Attorney General and a concerned individual.

Your Committee finds that this bill will benefit Hawaii's business climate by allowing more business entities to challenge mergers and acquisitions that would create monopolies and stifle marketplace competition. Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting references to "share capital" since this term is obsolete;

(2) Deleting amendments that would have removed from subsection (b) of section 480-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), language regarding when the court may order a divestiture of assets, and would have consolidated it with language in subsection (a);

(3) Removing the terms "interest, or membership" that would have been added to the list of interests whose acquisition or holding is subject to the mergers and acquisitions law;

(4) Adding a new section making technical amendments to section 480-13, HRS, of the antitrust law; and

(5) Providing an effective date of July 1, 2099, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 702, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 702, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

 

____________________________

KENNETH HIRAKI, Chair