STAND. COM. REP. NO. 637

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 1016
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 1016, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADMINISTRATIVE RULES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to improve public access to
state administrative agency rules.

     The bill accomplishes this by:  (1) prohibiting state
agencies from charging more than ten cents per page for copies of
state rules; and (2) requiring each state agency to post its
proposed rules on the website established by the Lieutenant
Governor beginning January 1, 2000.

     Until early 1998, state agencies were required to give free
copies of their proposed rules to interested persons.  The law
was amended during the 1998 session to raise the fee for
reproducing government records from twenty-five cents a page to
fifty cents a page, and to require a person requesting rules
through the mail to pay for the cost of the copy and postage.

     State agencies found the new laws confusing and cumbersome,
and the majority expressed a preference for continuing to
distribute the rules free of charge.  The Attorney General, by
letter opinion in September 1998, ruled that agencies were

 
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required to charge a fee of fifty cents per page.  A Legislative
Reference Bureau study conducted during this period found, among
other things, that agencies could produce copies of rules for
well under ten cents per page.

     Your Committee finds that the Legislature did not intend to
require state agencies to charge fifty cents per page for copying
costs, and your Committee agrees with the findings of the
Legislative Reference Bureau that such high mandatory fees are an
unreasonable barrier to public access.  Authorizing, rather than
requiring, the implementation of fees not to exceed ten cents per
page will afford state agencies the flexibility they require to
best serve the public.  The charge does not affect the Office of
the Lieutenant Governor's main collection of rules, and permits
agencies to charge fees for searching, identifying, and
segregating rules in preparation for copying according to a
schedule adopted by the Office of Information Practices.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B.
No. 1016, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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