STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2956

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2948

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2948, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INSURANCE FRAUD,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to protect policyholders and insurers from the impacts of insurance fraud.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Broadens the scope of the offense of insurance fraud and certain other offenses;

(2) Establishes new offenses to penalize fraudulent conduct by contractors and insurers during a declared emergency;

(3) Clarifies the penalties for the offense of insurance fraud and the capabilities and operations of the Insurance Fraud Investigations Branch;

(4) Establishes protections for insurance fraud whistleblowers;

(5) Authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to establish a centralized database for use by authorized agencies to track, analyze, and disseminate information related to insurance fraud; and

(6) Appropriates moneys to support insurance fraud investigations.

Your Committees received written comments on this measure from the Insurance Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Your Committees find that some other jurisdictions have enacted comprehensive insurance fraud reforms, which have resulted in substantial fraud recoveries and improved market stability. Your Committees believe that aligning Hawaii's insurance code with some fraud protections enacted or proposed in other jurisdictions will help to deter fraudulent conduct, strengthen investigative and prosecutorial capacity, promote data sharing, modernize enforcement tools, protect policyholders and insurers, and increase the integrity of the State's insurance market.

Your Committees have amended this measure by changing the means of financing for the appropriation from general funds to moneys from the compliance resolution fund.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2948, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2948, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair