REPORT TITLE: 
Professions and Occupations


DESCRIPTION:
Repeals regulation of real estate collection servicing agents.
Requests an auditor's sunset review of barbers, beauty culture,
and speech pathology and audiology regulatory programs.
Requests the LRB study the fairness of the dental licensing
examination. (SB1238 HD2)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1238
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                H.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO PROFESSIONS AND VOCATIONS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that government
 
 2 bureaucracy and red tape may be reduced by deregulating
 
 3 professions and vocations where appropriate.  Streamlining
 
 4 government operations by terminating unnecessary programs will
 
 5 make government more cost-effective and efficient, an important
 
 6 and desirable outcome given Hawaii's struggling economy.
 
 7 Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:
 
 8      (1)  Repeal the regulation of real estate collection
 
 9           servicing agents and make conforming amendments to
 
10           related sections of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.  The
 
11           legislature finds regulation of real estate collection
 
12           servicing agents is unnecessary; regulation does not
 
13           serve to protect the public health, safety, and welfare
 
14           and should therefore be eliminated;
 
15      (2)  Require that the legislative auditor report on whether
 
16           regulation of barbering, beauty culture, and speech
 
17           pathologists and audiologists should be continued or
 
18           repealed, and if continued, whether it would be more
 
19           efficient and cost-effective to regulate through a
 
20           regulatory board, the department of commerce and
 

 
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 1           consumer affairs, or some other agency or mechanism;
 
 2           and 
 
 3      (3)  Require that the legislative reference bureau report on
 
 4           whether the dental licensing exam developed and used by
 
 5           the board of dental examiners appropriately tests for
 
 6           competence or is an undue exclusionary barrier to entry
 
 7           into the profession, and whether the examination should
 
 8           be replaced by any of four regional examinations.
 
 9                              PART I
 
10                   REPEAL OF BUSINESS REGULATION
 
11      SECTION 2.  Section 412:3-502, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
12 amended to read as follows:
 
13      "§412:3-502  Foreign financial institution.  No foreign
 
14 financial institution shall receive deposits, lend money, or pay
 
15 checks, negotiate orders of withdrawal or share drafts from any
 
16 [[]principal[]] office, branch, agency, automatic teller machine,
 
17 or other location in this State, unless expressly authorized by
 
18 this chapter, other laws of this State, or federal law;
 
19 provided[,] that nothing in this section shall prohibit any
 
20 foreign financial institution from participating in the
 
21 disbursement of cash through an automatic teller machine network
 
22 or from operating from any location in this State as a mortgage
 
23 broker licensed under chapter 454, or as a real estate collection
 
24 servicing agent [registered under chapter 454D]."
 

 
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 1      SECTION 3.  Section 443B-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by amending the definition of "collection agency" to read
 
 3 as follows:
 
 4      ""Collection agency" means any person, whether located
 
 5 within or outside this State, who by oneself or through others
 
 6 offers to undertake or holds oneself out as being able to
 
 7 undertake or does undertake to collect for another person, claims
 
 8 or money due on accounts or other forms of indebtedness for a
 
 9 commission, fixed fee, or a portion of the sums so collected.
 
10      "Collection agency" includes:
 
11      (1)  Any person using any name other than the person's own
 
12           in collecting the person's own claims with the
 
13           intention of conveying, or which tends to convey the
 
14           impression that a third party has been employed; 
 
15      (2)  Any person who, in the conduct of the person's business
 
16           for a fee, regularly repossesses any merchandise or
 
17           chattels for another; and
 
18      (3)  Any person who regularly accepts the assignment of
 
19           claims or money due on accounts or other forms of
 
20           indebtedness and brings suits upon the assigned claims
 
21           or money due on accounts or other forms of indebtedness
 
22           in the person's own name; provided that any suits shall
 
23           be initiated and prosecuted by an attorney who shall
 

 
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 1           have been appointed by the assignee[; provided further
 
 2           that any person who by oneself or through others offers
 
 3           to undertake or holds oneself out as being able to
 
 4           undertake or does undertake to collect for another
 
 5           person the amounts due under any agreement which
 
 6           provides for installment payments and which is secured
 
 7           by an interest in real property, including without
 
 8           limitation, mortgage loans and agreements of sale,
 
 9           whether or not the collection servicing agent receives
 
10           any compensation or other consideration for one's
 
11           services, shall fall within the purview of chapter
 
12           454D].
 
13      "Collection agency" does not include licensed attorneys at
 
14 law acting within the scope of their profession, licensed real
 
15 estate brokers, and salespersons residing in this State when
 
16 engaged in the regular practice of their profession, nor banks,
 
17 trust companies, building and loan associations, savings and loan
 
18 associations, financial services loan companies, credit unions,
 
19 companies doing an escrow business, individuals regularly
 
20 employed on a regular wage or salary in the capacity of credit
 
21 persons or in other similar capacity for a single employer who is
 
22 not a collection agency, nor any public officer or any person
 
23 acting under an order of court."
 

 
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 1      SECTION 4.  Chapter 454D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 repealed.
 
 3                              PART II
 
 4                      AUDITOR'S SUNSET REVIEW
 
 5      SECTION 5.  (a) The legislative auditor shall conduct a
 
 6 study, or a series of studies, as appropriate, as provided in
 
 7 subsection (b), regarding the regulation of the following
 
 8 professions or vocations:
 
 9      (1)  Speech pathologists and audiologists (chapter 468E,
 
10           Hawaii Revised Statutes);
 
11      (2)  Practice of barbering (chapter 438, Hawaii Revised
 
12           Statutes); and
 
13      (3)  Beauty culture (chapter 439, Hawaii Revised Statutes).
 
14      (b)  With respect to the professions or vocations specified
 
15 in subsection (a), the auditor shall:
 
16      (1)  Determine whether, given the criteria in section 26H-2,
 
17           Hawaii Revised Statutes, regulation of these
 
18           professions or vocations should be continued or
 
19           repealed;
 
20      (2)  Upon concluding that regulation of any of these
 
21           professions and vocations should continue, determine
 
22           whether regulation would be more efficiently and cost
 
23           effectively administered by:
 

 
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 1           (A)  A regulatory board;
 
 2           (B)  The department of commerce and consumer affairs;
 
 3                or
 
 4           (C)  An alternative regulatory mechanism.
 
 5      (c)  The auditor shall submit to the legislature a report of
 
 6 the findings and recommendations concerning the regulation of
 
 7 speech pathologists and audiologists no later than twenty days
 
 8 before the convening of the regular session of 2000, and the
 
 9 regulation of barbering and beauty culture no later than twenty
 
10 days before the convening of the regular session of 2001.
 
11                             PART III
 
12                    STUDY RELATING TO DENTISTRY
 
13      SECTION 6.  The legislative reference bureau, with the
 
14 assistance of the board of dental examiners and the department of
 
15 commerce and consumer affairs, shall conduct a study of the
 
16 state-constructed dental licensing examinations used by the
 
17 board.  The study shall include a determination of the following
 
18 questions:
 
19      (1)  Given examination pass rates since 1992, does the state
 
20           constructed dental licensing examination, including
 
21           proposed changes to the examination, appropriately test
 
22           for professional competency in the field of dentistry
 
23           or serve as an undue exclusionary barrier to entry to
 

 
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 1           the profession?  In considering this question, the
 
 2           legislative reference bureau shall compare the dental
 
 3           licensing examination pass rates of the following
 
 4           groups of applicants:
 
 5           (A)  Graduates of institutions located in the United
 
 6                States and accredited by an accreditor recognized
 
 7                by the United States Secretary of Education;
 
 8           (B)  Graduates of institutions located in the United
 
 9                States not accredited by an accreditor recognized
 
10                by the United States Secretary of Education;
 
11           (C)  Graduates of institutions located in foreign
 
12                countries that are accredited by the governments
 
13                of those countries; and
 
14           (D)  Graduates of institutions located in foreign
 
15                countries that are not accredited by the
 
16                governments of those countries;
 
17      (2)  Should any of the four regional dental examinations be
 
18           used in lieu of, or as an alternative option to, the
 
19           state-constructed dental licensing examination and, if
 
20           so, under what conditions; and
 
21      (3)  Any other questions pertinent to an evaluation and
 
22           determination of the fairness of the state-constructed
 
23           dental licensing examination under section 26H-2,
 
24           Hawaii Revised Statutes, criteria.
 

 
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 1      The legislative reference bureau shall submit the requested
 
 2 report, with its findings, recommendations, and proposed
 
 3 legislation, if necessary, to the legislature not later than
 
 4 twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of
 
 5 2000.
 
 6      SECTION 7.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 7      SECTION 8.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.