REPORT TITLE:
Public Access


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds so that legislative sessions can be broadcast
in streaming media format via the Internet, adds a full time
position to the public access room, establishes a childcare pilot
program, and transfers the responsibility for the sale and
distribution of statutory revision from the Lt. Governor to the
legislature.  (SB2354 SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2354
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
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      The purpose of this Act is to further enhance public access
 
15 by funding a legislative media streaming pilot project to allow
 
16 public access to the Internet, establishing a childcare pilot
 
17 program to allow parents of young children to participate in the
 
18 legislative process, and transferring responsibility for
 
19 statutory publications from the lieutenant governor to the
 
20 legislature to increase public access to these publications.
 

 
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 1                              PART I
 
 2      SECTION 2.  Televised coverage of state legislative sessions
 
 3 is an important source of information for citizen participation
 
 4 in public proceedings.  At present, some legislative sessions are
 
 5 available through the public broadcast project, but those are
 
 6 only available to people who have access to cable television.
 
 7 The legislature must reach out in all feasible ways to assure
 
 8 that knowledge of the legislature's deliberations is as
 
 9 widespread as possible.  One alternate method of broadcasting
 
10 legislative hearings to as many people as possible is the
 
11 publication of legislative events through video and audio on the
 
12 Internet.  This process, called streaming media, is valuable in
 
13 that it allows the public to access legislative sessions whenever
 
14 they want, not merely at set times.  All it requires is a
 
15 standard dial-up connection to the Internet, and free software
 
16 that is included with Internet Explorer and Netscape, the two
 
17 most popular Internet web browsing systems.
 
18      These streaming media programs can be made available
 
19 wherever computers are made available, such as in public
 
20 libraries, schools, youth centers, section centers, and other
 
21 public places.  It would increase public access at a very low
 
22 cost to the State.
 
23      The project will be undertaken by the Maui Research and
 

 
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 1 Technology Center and Akaku, the public access organization of
 
 2 Maui.  The Maui Research and Technology Center will provide
 
 3 technology, expertise, and telecommunications resources.  Akaku
 
 4 will contribute its programming experience and partnership
 
 5 building skills.
 
 6      The purpose of this part is to appropriate $34,500 for a
 
 7 pilot streaming media project to allow legislative sessions to be
 
 8 broadcast in streaming media format via the Internet.
 
 9      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
10 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $34,500, or so much
 
11 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for a
 
12 legislative audio streaming pilot project.
 
13      SECTION 4.  The sum appropriated in this part shall be
 
14 expended by the legislature for the purposes of this part.
 
15                              PART II
 
16      SECTION 5.  In order to maintain its commitment to public
 
17 access, the legislature believes that the current level of
 
18 service to the public from the legislative reference bureau's
 
19 public access room should be maintained.  Public requests for
 
20 services of the public access room have increased dramatically
 
21 since its beginning in 1990.  In fiscal year 1998-1999 alone, the
 
22 public access room received over 7,500 calls for legislative and
 
23 other information, serviced over 4,000 people who visited the
 

 
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 1 public access room or made requests for service in person, and
 
 2 conducted public access workshops for almost five hundred
 
 3 residents.  This rise in demand for services from the public
 
 4 access room cannot be met with only one full-time staff member.
 
 5 An additional interim staff person is needed to serve the needs
 
 6 of the citizens for legislative access and related services.  The
 
 7 legislature finds that one person is insufficient to provide for
 
 8 the increased demand for the services of the public access room
 
 9 and, at the same time, maintain its high quality.
 
10      The purpose of this part is to make an appropriation to
 
11 convert an existing part-time position to an additional full-time
 
12 staff position for the public access room.
 
13      SECTION 6.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
14 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $13,200, or so much
 
15 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for a
 
16 second full-time staff person for the public access room.
 
17      SECTION 7.  The sum appropriated in this part shall be
 
18 expended by the office of the legislative reference bureau for
 
19 the purposes of this part.
 
20                             PART III
 
21      SECTION 8.  Currently, many parents who would like to
 
22 participate in the legislative process are unable to because they
 
23 are parents of young children and lack adequate childcare
 

 
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 1 services.  To maintain its commitment to public access for all,
 
 2 the legislature believes that a childcare pilot program should be
 
 3 enacted to allow parents of children to participate in the
 
 4 legislative process.  The pilot program would pay for the cost of
 
 5 childcare services for parents who testify in state legislative
 
 6 hearings.
 
 7      The purpose of this part is to establish a childcare pilot
 
 8 program to allow parents of young children to participate in the
 
 9 legislative process.
 
10      SECTION 9.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
11 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          , or so
 
12 much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, for a
 
13 childcare pilot program.
 
14      SECTION 10.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
15 legislature for the purposes of this part. 
 
16                              PART IV
 
17      SECTION 11.  Currently, the statutory revision
 
18 responsibility resides with the legislature, however, the
 
19 responsibility for the sale and distribution of the Hawaii
 
20 Revised Statutes, resides with the lieutenant governor.
 
21 Providing the legislature with full oversight over the
 
22 publication, sale, and distribution would enable the legislature
 
23 to improve the usefulness of the statutory publications and
 

 
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 1 information and shift more rapidly toward placing all legislative
 
 2 information online as a cost-savings and public access
 
 3 enhancement.
 
 4      The purpose of this part is to transfer the responsibility
 
 5 for the sale and distribution of the Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
 6 from the lieutenant governor to the legislature.
 
 7      SECTION 12.  Section 21D-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 8 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
 9      "(a)  There is established a Hawaii legislative publications
 
10 special fund within the treasury of the State into which shall be
 
11 deposited:
 
12      (1)  All licensing fees or royalties derived from the
 
13           publication of the Hawaii Revised Statutes [in
 
14           electronic format];
 
15      (2)  All appropriations made by the legislature to the fund;
 
16           and
 
17      (3)  Any other proceeds derived from the publication and use
 
18           of other legislative publications and information
 
19           services [in an electronic format].
 
20      All interest accrued by the revenues of the fund shall
 
21 become part of the fund."
 
22      SECTION 13.  Section 23G-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
23 amended to read as follows:
 

 
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 1      "§23G-18  Sale and distribution.  The session laws,
 
 2 supplements, and replacement volumes shall be sold and
 
 3 distributed by the [lieutenant governor] legislature at a price
 
 4 fixed by the [lieutenant governor.] legislature.  The money
 
 5 received therefor shall be paid into the state treasury to the
 
 6 credit of the [general] Hawaii legislative publications special
 
 7 fund[.] established under section 21D-5.  The [lieutenant
 
 8 governor] legislature may furnish the session laws, supplements,
 
 9 and replacement volumes to public officials for official use free
 
10 of charge.  As used in this chapter, public officials include
 
11 officials of the state and county governments, of the
 
12 congressional delegation of the State, of the United States
 
13 District Court, District of Hawaii, and of the United States
 
14 Attorney's Office in Hawaii."
 
15      SECTION 14.  Section 26-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
16 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
17      "(a)  Except as otherwise provided by law, the lieutenant
 
18 governor is designated the secretary of state for
 
19 intergovernmental relations and shall perform the duties and
 
20 functions heretofore exercised by the secretary of Hawaii.  The
 
21 duties and functions shall include, but not be limited to,
 
22 [recordation of all legislative and gubernatorial acts,]
 
23 certification of state documents, and maintenance of an official
 

 
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 1 file of rules adopted by state departments as provided in chapter
 
 2 91.  The lieutenant governor may employ staff as necessary
 
 3 without regard to chapters 76 and 77."
 
 4      SECTION 15.  Section 93-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 5 amended to read as follows:
 
 6      "[[]§93-15  Legislative journals; sale and distribution.[]]
 
 7 The journals of the senate and house of representatives,
 
 8 published in accordance with the rules of each house of the
 
 9 legislature, shall be sold and distributed to the public by the
 
10 [lieutenant governor] legislature at a price fixed by the
 
11 [lieutenant governor.] legislature.  The money received therefor
 
12 shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the
 
13 [general] Hawaii legislative publications special fund.  The
 
14 [lieutenant governor] legislature may furnish the journals of the
 
15 senate and house of representatives to public officials free of
 
16 charge.  As used in this section, public officials include
 
17 officials of the state and county governments, of the
 
18 congressional delegation of the State, of the United States
 
19 District Court, District of Hawaii, and of the United States
 
20 Attorney's Office in Hawaii."
 
21      SECTION 16.  The joint legislative access committee
 
22 established pursuant to Act 174, Sessions Laws of Hawaii 1996,
 
23 shall make recommendations to the senate president and the
 

 
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 1 speaker of the house of representatives on the transition of
 
 2 control over the sale, distribution, storage, and other ancillary
 
 3 concerns related to the legislature's assuming control of
 
 4 legislative publications covered in this part.  The joint
 
 5 legislative access committee is authorized, with the prior
 
 6 approval of the president of the senate and the speaker of the
 
 7 house of representatives, to enter into agreements with the
 
 8 office of the lieutenant governor, the legislative reference
 
 9 bureau, and any other public or private entity to ensure the
 
10 efficient transfer of control and the storage of legislative
 
11 publications from the office of the lieutenant governor to the
 
12 legislature.
 
13      SECTION 17.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
14 New statutory material is underscored.
 
15      SECTION 18.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.