STAND. COM. REP. NO.211
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2001
RE: H.B. No. 1138
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2001
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Legislative Management, to which was referred H.B. No. 1138 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUBMISSION OF REPORTS TO THE LEGISLATURE,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to improve legislative oversight over the executive and judicial branches of government by requiring the Legislative Reference Bureau to develop a system to track and monitor the submission of annual and other reports to the legislature.
In addition, this bill:
(1) Requires printed copies of each report to be submitted to the presiding officer of each house of the Legislature and to the Bureau's library;
(2) Requires agencies to submit highlights or summaries for each of the reports required or requested to be submitted;
(3) Requires the Bureau to coordinate and oversee the distribution of these highlights or summaries to all legislators;
(4) Authorizes the Bureau to develop guidelines and formats to promote the monitoring, tracking, and coordination of the submittal of reports; and
(5) Requires executive agencies and the judiciary to post electronic versions of their annual and other reports on their websites.
According to research conducted by the Legislative Reference Bureau, Hawaii statutes require the submission of approximately two hundred annual reports. To minimize duplication and overlap, the Legislature allows agencies to consolidate their annual reports. While this is an efficient use of government resources, it makes it difficult to determine whether an agency has submitted an annual report that is required by law.
In addition, the Legislature, during each regular session, also requires or requests agencies to conduct studies and submit reports on a variety of issues. During the 1999 regular session alone, the Legislature either required or requested over one hundred of these studies and reports. If submittal of copies of these studies to the Legislative Reference Bureau library (which executive agencies are directed to do by Governor’s memorandum) is any indication of agency response, then the Legislature is being ignored. Eighteen months after these studies and reports were requested, responses to only about one-third of those requested were on file at the library.
At present, the Legislature has no means by which to systematically track and monitor the submission of reports that are required by law or legislative request. While it might not be difficult to determine whether a particular report was submitted, there is no way to ascertain compliance by agencies as a whole.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this bill from the Legislative Reference Bureau.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Legislative Management that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1138 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Legislative Management,
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____________________________ NATHAN SUZUKI, Chair |
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