STAND. COM. REP. 2330

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2895

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2895 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATION TO PEST CONTROL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require a pest control operator to obtain and maintain continuous workers' compensation and liability insurance coverage.

This measure also provides for:

(1) License forfeiture for failure to obtain and maintain continuous workers' compensation and liability insurance coverage;

(2) Options for the restoration of a pest control operator's forfeited license;

(3) A right to request an administrative hearing to contest the forfeiture pursuant to Chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(4) The State Pest Control Board, rather than the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, to be the repository for filing proof of insurance coverage for pest control businesses.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the State Pest Control Board and the Hawaii Pest Control Association.

Your Committee finds that under the current law, there is no clear mandate that pest control operators maintain continuous workers' compensation and liability insurance coverages. Your Committee further finds that the intent of requiring insurance coverage by pest control operators, although not specifically mandated, was for such coverage to be maintained on a continuous basis so that verification of coverage would be presented as a prerequisite for license renewal. Additionally, requisite penalties, procedures for curing, and an appeal process resulting from a failure to maintain continuous coverage must be specifically enumerated to authorize the State Pest Control Board to properly regulate and enforce the industry. Your Committee also determines that it is currently difficult to obtain pest control coverage and therefore, concessions must be made to protect the licensees through the granting of a grace period within which coverage can be obtained without jeopardizing consumer safety.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2895, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2895, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair