STAND. COM. REP. NO. 870

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 1462
                                        S.D. 1




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

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which
was referred S.B. No. 1462 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committees, is
to make the office of elections and the elections appointment
panel permanent.  This bill also renames the elections
appointment panel as the elections appointment and review panel.
In addition, this bill requires that panel to establish an
elections review program to establish standards, evaluate, and
make recommendations regarding the performance of the operation
of elections and conduct of the chief election officer.

     Your Committee finds that the independence of the office of
elections serves a role in preserving the integrity of the
elections system, as well as the perception of that integrity.
Given the significance of this integrity and the perception
thereof, adding a review function to the appointments panel
should help maintain or improve the performance of the operation
of elections and of the chief election officer.  Your Committee
further finds that making the elections appointment and review
panel more independent by changing the method by which the
members are selected advances this same goal.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Lieutenant Governor, the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and
Common Cause Hawaii.

 
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     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the review of the chief election
          officer shall focus on the "performance" rather than
          the "conduct" of the chief election officer;

     (2)  Transferring the office of elections and the elections
          appointment and review panel from the office of the
          lieutenant governor to the department of accounting and
          general services;

     (3)  Requiring the office of elections to provide staff
          support for the elections appointment and review panel;

     (4)  Changing the appointment of the members of the panel
          from appointment by the governor, to selection of one
          member each by the president of the senate, speaker of
          the house of representatives, minority leader of the
          senate, minority leader of the house of
          representatives, and one member by the governor,
          without the advise and consent of the senate;

     (5)  Changing and staggering the terms of the panel members
          to six years, with the members appointed by the
          president of the senate, minority leader of the house,
          and the governor serving the first six year term, and
          the remaining two members serving for four years; 

     (6)  Inserting an appropriation of $5,000; 

     (7)  Changing the effective date to June 29, 1999, with the
          appropriation section taking effect July 1, 1999; and

     (8)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to
this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and
purpose of S.B. No. 1462, as amended herein, and recommend that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No.
1462, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Ways and Means,


 
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____________________________       ______________________________
CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair           AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



____________________________       ______________________________
ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair             MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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