STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1335

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 127
                                        




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.C.R.
No. 127 entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE
     REFERENCE BUREAU TO CONDUCT A STUDY TO DETERMINE IF HAWAII'S
     ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT AND PUBLIC AGENCY MEETINGS AND
     RECORDS LAWS ARE CURRENTLY DRAFTED TO ENSURE THAT
     DISCUSSIONS, DELIBERATIONS, DECISIONS, AND ACTIONS OF THE
     GOVERNMENT ARE CONDUCTED AS OPENLY AS POSSIBLE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution is to request a
study to determine if Hawaii's administrative procedure act and
public agency meetings and records laws are currently drafted to
ensure that discussions, deliberations, decisions, and actions of
the government are conducted as openly as possible.

     Your Committee finds that the intent of Chapter 91, the
Administrative Procedure Act, and Chapter 92F, the Uniform
Information Practices Act (Modified), is to allow public
participation in the development of agency regulations and public
access to agency proceedings and records, respectively.  Your
Committee further finds that public access to government needs to
be balanced with creating government that is overburdensome in
its attempts to be inclusive.  Your Committee notes that the
Lieutenant Governor's "Slice Waste and Tape" (SWAT) initiative to
reduce the regulatory burden of rules and unintended negative
consequences of such upon those they are intended to protect, is
a complementary initiative which should be monitored and relevant

 
a                                                     
                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1335

                                   Page 2


recommendations of the SWAT should be considered as part of this
study.

     Testimony in support of this concurrent resolution was
submitted by the Office of Information Practices, the League of
Women Voters of Hawaii, and Common Cause Hawaii.  Testimony from
the Office of the Lieutenant Governor was submitted regarding the
Lieutenant Governor's efforts to reduce the number of burdensome
administrative rules adopted pursuant to the administrative
procedure act.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 127,
and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and
Means.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
a