REPORT TITLE:
Public Access


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to allow legislative sessions to be broadcast
in streaming media format via the Internet.  Adds a full time
position to the public access room.  Establishes a childcare
pilot program.  Transfers the responsibility for the sale and
distribution of statutory revision from the lieutenant governor
to the legislature.  Appropriates funds to purchase hardware and
software to upgrade the legislative internal computer network.
(HB2194 SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2194
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC ACCESS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that it is crucial to the
 
 2 decision making of the legislature to have citizen involvement
 
 3 and input into the legislative process.  One of the most
 
 4 effective means of promoting citizen involvement and input into
 
 5 the legislative process is through public access.  The Hawaii
 
 6 state legislature has demonstrated its commitment to the
 
 7 principle of public access to the legislative process by creating
 
 8 programs such as the public access room, legislative broadcast
 
 9 project, and the legislative website that encourage education and
 
10 support for citizen involvement in the legislative process.
 
11 Hawaii is considered to be one of the country's models in the
 
12 development of public access programs, as evidenced by
 
13 complimentary commentaries in the national and local media.
 
14      Accordingly, the purposes of this Act are to further enhance
 
15 public access by:
 
16      (1)  Funding a legislative media streaming pilot project to
 
17           allow public access to the Internet;
 
18      (2)  Establishing a childcare pilot program to allow parents
 
19           of young children to participate in the legislative
 

 
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 1           process;
 
 2      (3)  Appropriating funds to convert an existing part-time
 
 3           position to an additional full-time staff position for
 
 4           the public access room;
 
 5      (4)  Transferring responsibility for statutory publications
 
 6           from the lieutenant governor to the legislature to
 
 7           increase public access to these publications; and
 
 8      (5)  Appropriating funds to purchase hardware and software
 
 9           to upgrade the legislative internal computer network.
 
10                              PART I
 
11      SECTION 2.  Televised coverage of state legislative sessions
 
12 is an important source of information for citizen participation
 
13 in public proceedings.  At present, some legislative sessions are
 
14 available through the public broadcast project, but those are
 
15 only available to people who have access to cable television.
 
16 The legislature must reach out in all feasible ways to assure
 
17 that knowledge of the legislature's deliberations is as
 
18 widespread as possible.  One alternate method of broadcasting
 
19 legislative hearings to as many people as possible is the
 
20 publication of legislative events through video and audio on the
 
21 Internet.  This process, called streaming media, is valuable in
 
22 that it allows the public to access legislative sessions whenever
 
23 they want, not merely at set times.  All it requires is a
 

 
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 1 standard dial-up connection to the Internet, and free software
 
 2 that is included with Internet Explorer and Netscape, the two
 
 3 most popular Internet web browsing systems.
 
 4      These streaming media programs can be made available
 
 5 wherever computers are made available, such as in public
 
 6 libraries, schools, youth centers, section centers, and other
 
 7 public places.  It would increase public access at a very low
 
 8 cost to the State.
 
 9      The project will be undertaken by the Maui Research and
 
10 Technology Center and Akaku, the public access organization of
 
11 Maui.  The Maui Research and Technology Center will provide
 
12 technology, expertise, and telecommunications resources.  Akaku
 
13 will contribute its programming experience and partnership
 
14 building skills.
 
15      The purpose of this part is to appropriate $34,500 for a
 
16 pilot streaming media project to allow legislative sessions to be
 
17 broadcast in streaming media format via the Internet.
 
18      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
19 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $34,500, or so much
 
20 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for a
 
21 legislative audio streaming pilot project.
 
22      SECTION 4.  The sum appropriated in this part shall be
 
23 expended by the legislature for the purposes of this part.
 

 
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 1                              PART II
 
 2      SECTION 5.  In order to maintain its commitment to public
 
 3 access, the legislature believes that the current level of
 
 4 service to the public from the legislative reference bureau's
 
 5 public access room should be maintained.  Public requests for
 
 6 services of the public access room have increased dramatically
 
 7 since its beginning in 1990.  In fiscal year 1998-1999 alone, the
 
 8 public access room received over 7,500 calls for legislative and
 
 9 other information, serviced over 4,000 people who visited the
 
10 public access room or made requests for service in person, and
 
11 conducted public access workshops for almost five hundred
 
12 residents.  This rise in demand for services from the public
 
13 access room cannot be met with only one full-time staff member.
 
14 An additional interim staff person is needed to serve the needs
 
15 of the citizens for legislative access and related services.  The
 
16 legislature finds that one person is insufficient to provide for
 
17 the increased demand for the services of the public access room
 
18 and, at the same time, maintain its high quality.
 
19      The purpose of this part is to make an appropriation to
 
20 convert an existing part-time position to an additional full-time
 
21 staff position for the public access room.
 
22      SECTION 6.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
23 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $13,200, or so much
 

 
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 1 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for a
 
 2 second full-time staff person for the public access room.
 
 3      SECTION 7.  The sum appropriated in this part shall be
 
 4 expended by the office of the legislative reference bureau for
 
 5 the purposes of this part.
 
 6                             PART III
 
 7      SECTION 8.  Currently, many parents who would like to
 
 8 participate in the legislative process are unable to because they
 
 9 are parents of young children and lack adequate childcare
 
10 services.  To maintain its commitment to public access for all,
 
11 the legislature believes that a childcare pilot program should be
 
12 enacted to allow parents of children to participate in the
 
13 legislative process.  The pilot program would pay for the cost of
 
14 childcare services for parents who testify in state legislative
 
15 hearings.
 
16      The purpose of this part is to establish a childcare pilot
 
17 program to allow parents of young children to participate in the
 
18 legislative process.
 
19      SECTION 9.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
20 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          , or so
 
21 much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for a
 
22 childcare pilot program.
 
23      SECTION 10.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 

 
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 1 legislature for the purposes of this part. 
 
 2                              PART IV
 
 3      SECTION 11.  Currently, the statutory revision
 
 4 responsibility resides with the legislature, however, the
 
 5 responsibility for the sale and distribution of the Hawaii
 
 6 Revised Statutes, resides with the lieutenant governor.
 
 7 Providing the legislature with full oversight over the
 
 8 publication, sale, and distribution would enable the legislature
 
 9 to improve the usefulness of the statutory publications and
 
10 information and shift more rapidly toward placing all legislative
 
11 information online as a cost-savings and public access
 
12 enhancement.
 
13      The purpose of this part is to transfer the responsibility
 
14 for the sale and distribution of the Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
15 from the lieutenant governor to the legislature.
 
16      SECTION 12.  Section 21D-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
17 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
18      "(a)  There is established a Hawaii legislative publications
 
19 special fund within the treasury of the State into which shall be
 
20 deposited:
 
21      (1)  All licensing fees or royalties derived from the
 
22           publication of the Hawaii Revised Statutes [in
 
23           electronic format];
 

 
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 1      (2)  All appropriations made by the legislature to the fund;
 
 2           and
 
 3      (3)  Any other proceeds derived from the publication and use
 
 4           of other legislative publications and information
 
 5           services [in an electronic format].
 
 6      All interest accrued by the revenues of the fund shall
 
 7 become part of the fund."
 
 8      SECTION 13.  Section 23G-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 9 amended to read as follows:
 
10      "§23G-18  Sale and distribution.  The session laws,
 
11 supplements, and replacement volumes shall be sold and
 
12 distributed by the [lieutenant governor] legislature at a price
 
13 fixed by the [lieutenant governor.] legislature.  The money
 
14 received therefor shall be paid into the state treasury to the
 
15 credit of the [general] Hawaii legislative publications special
 
16 fund[.] established under section 21D-5.  The [lieutenant
 
17 governor] legislature may furnish the session laws, supplements,
 
18 and replacement volumes to public officials for official use free
 
19 of charge.  As used in this chapter, public officials include
 
20 officials of the state and county governments, of the
 
21 congressional delegation of the State, of the United States
 
22 District Court, District of Hawaii, and of the United States
 
23 Attorney's Office in Hawaii."
 

 
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 1      SECTION 14.  Section 26-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
 3      "(a)  Except as otherwise provided by law, the lieutenant
 
 4 governor is designated the secretary of state for
 
 5 intergovernmental relations and shall perform the duties and
 
 6 functions heretofore exercised by the secretary of Hawaii.  The
 
 7 duties and functions shall include, but not be limited to,
 
 8 [recordation of all legislative and gubernatorial acts,]
 
 9 certification of state documents, and maintenance of an official
 
10 file of rules adopted by state departments as provided in chapter
 
11 91.  The lieutenant governor may employ staff as necessary
 
12 without regard to chapters 76 and 77."
 
13      SECTION 15.  Section 93-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
14 amended to read as follows:
 
15      "[[]§93-15  Legislative journals; sale and distribution.[]]
 
16 The journals of the senate and house of representatives,
 
17 published in accordance with the rules of each house of the
 
18 legislature, shall be sold and distributed to the public by the
 
19 [lieutenant governor] legislature at a price fixed by the
 
20 [lieutenant governor.] legislature.  The money received therefor
 
21 shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the
 
22 [general] Hawaii legislative publications special fund.  The
 
23 [lieutenant governor] legislature may furnish the journals of the
 

 
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 1 senate and house of representatives to public officials free of
 
 2 charge.  As used in this section, public officials include
 
 3 officials of the state and county governments, of the
 
 4 congressional delegation of the State, of the United States
 
 5 District Court, District of Hawaii, and of the United States
 
 6 Attorney's Office in Hawaii."
 
 7      SECTION 16.  The joint legislative access committee
 
 8 established pursuant to Act 174, Sessions Laws of Hawaii 1996,
 
 9 shall make recommendations to the senate president and the
 
10 speaker of the house of representatives on the transition of
 
11 control over the sale, distribution, storage, and other ancillary
 
12 concerns related to the legislature's assuming control of
 
13 legislative publications covered in this part.  The joint
 
14 legislative access committee is authorized, with the prior
 
15 approval of the president of the senate and the speaker of the
 
16 house of representatives, to enter into agreements with the
 
17 office of the lieutenant governor, the legislative reference
 
18 bureau, and any other public or private entity to ensure the
 
19 efficient transfer of control and the storage of legislative
 
20 publications from the office of the lieutenant governor to the
 
21 legislature.
 
22                              PART V
 
23      SECTION 17.  There is appropriated out of the general
 

 
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 1 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           for the
 
 2 Senate and $           for the House of Representatives, or so
 
 3 much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, to
 
 4 purchase hardware and software to upgrade the legislative
 
 5 internal computer network.  The sums appropriated shall be
 
 6 expended by the senate and the house of representatives for the
 
 7 purpose of this section.
 
 8      SECTION 18.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 9 New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 19.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.