STAND. COM. REP. NO. 122

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 745

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 745 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CABLE TELEVISION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the use of moneys in the Compliance Resolution Fund to support the provision of public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access programming in underserved areas of the State.

The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Akaku: Maui Community Television, and Olelo Community Television testified in support of this measure.

In public meetings held on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the island of Hawaii in 2003, DCCA received comments indicating that there are areas throughout the State that are underserved by the current PEG access system. These areas are usually separated by distance or geography from the PEG access centers located in each county.

To address the above problem, this measure:

(1) Expressly authorizes use of moneys in the Department's Compliance Resolution Fund to support PEG access facilities, equipment, and operations in the State's underserved areas;

(2) Requires the Director of DCCA to issue a decision and order establishing standards and conditions for use of the funds; and

(3) Provides that the expenditure of funds shall not be subject to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to state grants and subsidies.

Your Committee finds that the plan to expand PEG access services to underserved areas appears to contemplate the distribution of additional funding only to the PEG access organizations, and not to other entities that provide access programming. In approving this measure, it is your Committee's intent that DCCA, when determining how funds are to be distributed or expended, consider all appropriate entities that provide access programming, including entities that provide educational access programming.

Additionally, your Committee has concerns regarding the exemption of the expenditure of funds under this measure from the requirements of chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and the legislative oversight provided thereunder. Accordingly, your Committee requests the Committee on Ways and Means to further consider this issue in its deliberations on this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure:

(1) To appropriate $500,000 from the Compliance Resolution Fund to support the provision of expanded PEG access programming in underserved areas; and

(2) By making technical amendments to correct spelling and reflect preferred drafting style.

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. 745, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 745, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair