STAND. COM. REP. NO.  437-08

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2308

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2308 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to enhance consumer awareness in charitable giving by requiring charitable organizations that intend to solicit funds to register with and submit annual financial statements to the Department of the Attorney General (AG).

 

     The Office of Hawaiian Affairs testified in support of this bill.  The Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations opposed this measure.

 

     Registration and financial reporting requirements for charitable organizations were repealed by Act 120, Session Laws of Hawaii 1996.  Your Committees find that the reenactment of such requirements will help consumers obtain information about a charity before making donations and provide useful information to law enforcement in their oversight of these organizations.

 

     Your Committees have amended this bill by replacing its entire contents with similar provisions that, among other things:

 

     (1)  Require charitable organizations, with certain exemptions, to register and file annual financial reports with the AG;

 

     (2)  Require audited financial statements for charities with over $500,000 in gross revenue for the year covered by the annual financial report;

 

     (3)  Establish registration fees based upon the charitable organization's income;

 

     (4)  Require professional solicitors to report national and local gross revenues in financial reports to the AG;

 

     (5)  Prohibit charities from using the services of an unregistered professional solicitor or professional fundraising counsel;

 

     (6)  Authorizes the AG to issue subpoenas to investigate suspected violations and seek injunctions to restrain violations; and

 

     (7)  Repeal the bonding requirement for professional fundraising counsel.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2308, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2308, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary,

 

 

____________________________

TOMMY WATERS, Chair

 

____________________________

ROBERT N. HERKES, Chair