STAND. COM. REP. NO. 523-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2468
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which
was referred H.B. No. 2468 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PUBLIC UTILITIES
     COMMISSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to clarify that the Consumer
Advocate (CA) and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) share
responsibility for acting as a central clearing house for
information regarding consumer complaints and inquiries
concerning public utilities.

     Your Committee received testimony supporting this measure
from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the PUC.
Testimony supporting the intent of the bill and requesting
amendments was provided by Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
(HECO).  Testimony in opposition was submitted by GTE Hawaiian
Tel.

     Your Committee finds that this measure is intended to
reflect actual practice in the handling of consumer complaints by
the PUC and CA, that in turn, is reflective of the resource
limitations of the CA.  The PUC presently collects and compiles
consumer complaints pursuant to its general powers under section
269-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and publishes data regarding
these complaints in the PUC annual report.  The CA assists
customers who have complaints regarding utility companies.  Your
Committee heard testimony that this measure would help to reduce

 
 
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                                 Page 2

 
confusion regarding responsibility for collection, compilation,
and handling of complaints.

     An amendment has been made to this measure as suggested by
HECO, to eliminate problems that would otherwise arise from
overlapping responsibility.  As amended, the bill provides that:

     (1)  The CA is to assist consumers in handling consumer
          complaints before the PUC; and

     (2)  The PUC is to provide a central clearing house of
          information and collect and compile all consumer
          complaints and inquiries concerning public utilities.

     Your Committee has also eliminated the requirement that the
CA monitor the handling of consumer complaints by the PUC, in
response to concerns voiced by HECO that an agency that appears
as a party in contested cases before the PUC should not play a
monitoring role with regard to PUC actions.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 2468, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No.
2468, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   RON MENOR, Chair