Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1381, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to change the reporting time for the Elections Appointment and Review Panel (Panel) to report to the Legislature on its biennial performance evaluation from every odd-numbered year to every even-numbered year.

Your Committee notes that the law presently requires the Panel to conduct a biennial performance evaluation of the operation of elections and the performance of the Chief Election Officer and to submit its findings and recommendations to the Legislature twenty days before the convening of the regular session in odd-numbered years. However, because election operations begin in February of every even-numbered year and end twenty days after the general election, the Panel has only one month to prepare the report prior to this deadline. Your Committee finds that this deadline provides an insufficient amount of time for the Panel to evaluate effectively the election operations and the Chief Election Officer's performance and to prepare a comprehensive report.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1381, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1381, S.D. 2.