Did you catch Derrick Depledge’s story in yesterday’s Star-Advertiser about the bill (HB 1212) that would cut off public access to any information about consumer complaints filed with the state unless the complaint is first investigated and processed? Even the existence of the complaints will remain confidential until that point.

The story fills out the role of Rep. Isaac Choy in gaining passage of the bill this year. DePledge explains:

Last year, the bill stalled in conference committee. State House leadership assigned state Rep. Isaac Choy, (D, Manoa) to research the issue during the interim. In a January memo, Choy — an accountant who would have any complaints against him posted on the state website — said lawmakers needed to balance the privacy rights of professionals with consumer protection.

Most other states, he found, do not make complaints public until due-process procedures have begun or have been completed. The bill would allow disclosure of complaints that have been resolved against licensed professionals, as well as any warning letters or intermediate actions taken before final sanctions or penalties are imposed.

Choy helped revive the bill in conference committee in April. The bill passed the state House 43-7, with one member excused, and the state Senate 18-7.

The story doesn’t cite what was noted here back in April concerning Choy’s interest in the measure.

…Choy, who represents the Manoa area, is a CPA, a licensed profession that would get less public scrutiny if the bill passes, and has close ties to one of the bill’s key proponents.

Russel Yamashita, registered lobbyist for the Hawaii Dental Association, one of the primary backers of this bill, is the chair of Choy’s campaign committee, Friends for Isaac W. Choy, according to the campaign’s organizational report filed with the Campaign Spending Commission. The Dental Association has consistently presented testimony and lobbied for this and similar bills over several legislative sessions.

Yamashita’s lobbyist registration and Choy’s campaign committee share the mailing address of several businesses in which Choy reports an interest (see his 2008 and 2009 financial disclosure reports), including Manoa Consulting Group LLC, Isaac W. Choy CPA Inc., Ukumaruku Corp., and K H Choy & Associates.

Choy told Depledge:

“The whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said. “Why would you put up anybody’s case on a government website without due process?”

Why? Because complaints often languish for reasons that have nothing to do with their validity. Budget cuts and furloughs delay investigations. Consumers fail to retain all the detailed paperwork needed to document their claims, or don’t have the free time to push their complaints forward, or are intimidated by the process. In the meantime, complaints can stack up quickly if a licensed professional or their business has gotten into trouble.

Why? I just did a quick Google search for the terms “Hawaii”, “Travel Agency”, and “investigation”. There have been several cases over recent years. Here’s one from last year. Before the story became “news”, there were many consumer complaints filed with the state. Under the terms of HB1212, people thinking about buying tickets from Coloma’s Travel at the time would not have seen any mention of these pending complaints and would have wrongly assumed that there weren’t any problems with the business.

Jan 13, 2009, KHNL:

An Oahu travel agency is under investigation for allegedly scamming customers out of their money, leaving some stranded at the Honolulu International Airport.

Both Honolulu police and the state are investigating Colomas Travel Service.

Honolulu police say five theft reports involving more than a dozen people, plus 10 state complaints against the agency have been filed within the last few weeks alone.

Jan 20, 2009, Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs has received 15 complaints this year against Coloma’s Travel Service, which has been in business since 1993, and one last year. The Honolulu Police Department had five theft reports filed as of two weeks ago against the travel agency, HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.

That’s why it makes sense to at least publicly disclose that complaints have been filed, and why it makes good sense for Gov. Lingle to veto this bill.