Nikki Love of Common Cause Hawaii warns that the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear HB 1141, which would hide consumer complaints from the public. The bill is part of the committee’s 2 p.m. agenda in Conference Room 325.

It’s somewhat of a sneaky bill, because it begins by stating that complaints are to be made public, but then sets out limiting conditions that will significantly cut back access to records that have traditionally been public.

The bill would prevent disclosure of any records of complaints as long as any investigation is still ongoing, if the complaint has been referred to another agency, or if there is any resulting civil or administrative action initiated by the Office of Consumer Protection.

The bill has already passed through the House Consumer Protection & Commerce committee, where it received testimony in opposition from the Office of Information Practices, DCCA’s Regulated Industries Complaints Office, DCCA’s Office of Consumer Protection, Common Cause Hawaii, and Kokua Council.

The bill was supported by the Hawaii Dental Association, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Association of Realtors, Hawaii Lumber Products Association, and a number of individual dentists.

Highlights from the CPC February 2nd testimony:
Regulated Industries Complaints Office (RICO):

The bill would have the “practical effect of precluding RICO from disclosing the existence of any complaints except those that result in legal action…. the bill would affect disclosure of complaints relating to over 45 different licensed professions…. RICO would be precluded from issuing warnings to the public…. RICO believes that this bill weighs too heavily against the public’s interest in making informed consumer decisions and against the public’s interest in knowing what government is up to.”

Office of Consumer Protection:

“House Bill 1141 would obstruct the ability of the Office of Consumer Protection to provide consumer complaint information to our citizens. For at least the past 30 years, Hawaii has required the OCP to ‘provide a central clearing house of information by collecting and compiling all consumer complaints and inquiries and making the collections and compilations available to the general public’…. This measure undermines this longstanding policy.”

Office of Information Practices:

This bill “would also prevent disclosure of complaints against any business, utility, non-profit, or other person or entity that provides any sort of services or goods for money and thus may be the subject of a consumer complaint. A complaint about a store that sold a faulty television and refused to accept a return, or about overbilling by a public utility, or about deceptive insurance practices, or even about the food sold in a public school cafeteria, would all fall within the bill’s scope…. This bill seeks to make pending complaint information inaccessible, or at least not readily accessible, to consumers who may want this information…. The amount of time a complaint is pending may be protracted, and it is reasonable to believe that the pendency of a complaint is longer where the allegations are of a serious nature and supported by some evidence.”

This bill is similar to last year’s HB 1212, which was revived in conference committee and passed by the legislature, but then vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle.

Link to Honolulu Advertiser’s editorial on last year’s HB 1212:

Link to testimony posted by the CPC committee:
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/Testimony/HB1141_TESTIMONY_CPC_02-02-11_.PDF

Here we are again, watching our essentially liberal Democratic legislators moving to close off public access to significant government records. Are they going to look back and say they’re proud of screwing Hawaii consumers out of their ability to evaluate the companies and professionals we are looking to do business with?

Perhaps that is unfair, since there’s still a chance that the bill will be killed Let’s hope so.