STAND. COM. REP. NO.276

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 533

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 533 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANTITRUST,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish the Antitrust and Consumer Protection Trust Fund (Trust Fund), to be administered by the Department of the Attorney General (AG) to enforce the antitrust laws, including expenditures for related training, equipment, and educational resources.

The bill authorizes deposits into the Trust Fund of:

(1) Up to $150,000 in start-up funds from the fiscal year 2000-2001 general fund appropriation for the Department of the AG (ATG 100);

(2) Ten percent of any antitrust judgment or settlement received by the State where consistent with the court order, settlement, or agreement; and

(3) Legislative appropriations to the fund.

Unencumbered, unexpended moneys in excess of $1,000,000 are to lapse to the general fund after June 30 of each year.

AG submitted testimony in support of this measure and suggested an amendment.

Your Committees find that State participation in multi-state antitrust lawsuits and investigations allows the State to benefit from the expertise, efforts, and resources of other states. Failure to participate in these multi-state efforts excludes the State from sharing in settlements and awards, and requires the State to bear the full cost of investigating and litigating antitrust violations. The availability of moneys in the Trust Fund will facilitate State participation in these multi-state antitrust lawsuits that normally require participants to tender moneys in accordance with a cost sharing agreement.

Your Committees have amended this bill as suggested by AG to give the Trust Fund a new name: the Antitrust Trust Fund. Technical, nonsubstantive amendments have also been made for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 533, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 533, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

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ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair

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KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair