STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3426

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 56
                                        




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred
S.C.R. No. 56 entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT
     OF A JOINT INTERIM COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP A POLICY ON
     LEGISLATIVE BILL LIMITS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution is to request the
presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives to
convene a joint interim committee to develop a uniform policy on
bill limits to be adopted by rule in each chamber.

     Your Committee received testimony in favor of this measure
from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that each session, duplicate bills are
introduced because special interest groups or individuals have
the same bill introduced by several legislators.  This results in
a very large number of bills that are introduced in Hawaii each
year, most of which are not passed by the Legislature.  While the
Speaker of the House of Representatives has issued a memorandum
urging House members to abide by a limit of ten bills per
session, subject to exceptions for the Speaker, minority chair,
and committee chairs, the Senate has no similar policy limiting
bill introductions, nor does the Legislature have a uniform
policy regarding legislative bill limits.

 
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     Your Committee finds that limiting bill introductions in
each house will help to reduce the number of duplicative
measures; allow legislators more time to read and understand
bills; reduce printing, paper, and distribution costs; and allow
committees to manage their workloads more effectively.  Your
Committee further finds that establishing bill limits by rules
adopted in each chamber, which has already been accomplished in a
number of other states, will increase the Legislature's
efficiency and productivity, and make it more responsive to the
needs of the people of Hawaii.

     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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 56,
and recommends its adoption.

                                 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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