STAND. COM. REP. NO.584

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 678

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 678 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INSURANCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase the records retention requirement for insurance adjusters and independent bill reviewers from five years to eight years.

The Hawaii Insurers Council testified in support of this measure. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Hawaii Independents Insurance Agents Association took no position on the measure.

Currently, many insurance claims records are shipped out of the State after five years and are not subject to production under a subpoena should a claim be reopened. This measure would facilitate the resolution of reopened claims by requiring that adjusters and independent bill reviewers retain records of their transactions for eight years, rather than five years.

Your Committee finds that while this measure would assist in the adjudication of workers' compensation claims which are subject to reopening within an eight-year period, it creates an unnecessary burden on licensees who transact business in other lines of insurance. Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure to require the longer retention period only for records relating to workers' compensation claims.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 678, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 678, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair