STAND. COM. REP. NO. 662

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 1156
                                        S.D. 2




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 1156, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COST-RECOVERY FEES FOR
     DELINQUENT LIBRARY ACCOUNTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to allow the Board of Education
to impose a cost-recovery fee of not more than $10 as a result of
any action taken to enforce the collection of costs of lost books
and any overdue fines and fees charged to a library patron.

     Specifically, this bill:

     (1)  Requires a library patron to be mailed written notice
          demanding payment and advising that continued failure
          to pay the amount due may result in collection action
          being taken;

     (2)  Allows cost-recovery fees to include collection agency
          fees, attorneys' fees, court filing fees, and similar
          fees incurred by the Hawaii state public library system
          in connection with a collection action;

     (3)  Allows the Board to impose cost-recovery fees on
          amounts due for:


 
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          (A)  Library-sponsored seminars or workshops, including
               educational materials in various media format; and

          (B)  Research and reference materials published on
               magnetic media, CD-ROM, or other machine-readable
               form;

     (3)  Requires the Board to prescribe procedures relating to
          the charging and waiving of fees; the designation of
          things for which fees may be charged; the amount of
          fees that may be assessed and charged; the accumulated
          amount of lost library material costs, fines, or fees;
          the period of time that lost library materials costs,
          fines, or fees must remain unpaid before they are
          referred to a collection agency; and the notification
          of persons with delinquent accounts of the additional
          fees to be charged by a collection agency;

     (4)  Allows the State Librarian to waive any fee, including
          a cost-recovery fee, imposed by the Hawaii state public
          library system in cases of hardship; and

     (5)  Requires a cost-recovery fee, upon its collection, to
          be deposited into the libraries special fund and to be
          expended as prescribed by law.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by making a technical
nonsubstantive change for purposes of style.

     Your Committee urges the Board of Education to clarify in
future testimony whether the cost-recovery fees authorized by
this bill will be imposed in relation to the accessing of
magnetic media, CD-ROM, and other machine-readable research and
reference materials or in relation to the sale of these
materials, or both.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
1156, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1156,
S.D. 2.


 
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                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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