STAND. COM. REP. NO. 697

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 158

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 158, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish that charging shipping and delivery charges that exceed the actual cost charged to the seller to ship or deliver a commodity to a consumer in the State shall constitute an unfair and deceptive practice.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Consumer Protection of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Retail Merchants of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the State's consumers are often unfairly treated by online merchants' imposition of shipping costs as many of these retailers impose an arbitrary shipping cost that does not correlate with their actual cost of shipping. This measure addresses this improper practice to ensure that the State's consumers are not unfairly billed on shipping charges and are assessed only the actual cost of shipping, instead of a bogus rate that has nothing to do with the actual cost. Requiring a merchant to apply the actual shipping cost will facilitate transparency in consumer transactions and will help ensure that the State's consumers no longer fall victim to the arbitrary whims of online merchants in assessing shipping charges.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 158, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair