Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Legislative Management, to which was referred H.B. No. 997 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to allow the Legislature to adopt reasonable policies, procedures, and fees for legislative copying services.

Your Committee finds that, unlike many other states, the Hawaii Legislature does not charge the public for bill or document copying services. The costs of this policy can be substantial. In 2003, the Hawaii House of Representatives had two hundred "set" subscribers. A set subscriber receives one set of all bills, resolutions, committee reports, orders of the day, referral sheets and hearing/briefing notices. It is estimated that one complete set requires approximately three and one-half cases of white and colored paper. Each case contains ten reams of paper, each ream contains five hundred sheets of paper. It takes over 17,500 sheets of paper to complete one set of documents.

Even with the staggering amount of paper required to produce one set of documents, it is not uncommon for some organizations to receive as many as ten sets of documents during the course of the session.

This massive paper use does not include "box" subscribers who receive the order of the day, referral sheets, and hearing/briefing notices, and the paper needs of the state Senate -- which is probably comparable to that of the House of Representatives.

Considering the availability of legislative documents on the Internet, at public libraries, and other facilities and considering the efforts by administrative and legislative agencies to reduce costs, especially during these austere economic times, the objectives of this bill to adopt reasonable policies, procedures, and fees for legislative copying services are more than warranted.

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. 997 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.