Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 195, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to protect from public disclosure trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information contained within records pertaining to tenants and prospective tenants of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Office of Information Practices, and the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

Your Committee finds that currently the leasing function of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority requires tenants to provide detailed business plans to evaluate their potential for successful tenancy. Due to the nature of this business, the information obtained is proprietary, and prospective and current tenants may potentially be harmed by public disclosure of this sensitive information. Your Committee believes that this proprietary information should not be subject to disclosure, and this measure will protect this type of information from normal sunshine law provisions.

Your Committee has amended this measure to clarify that the disclosure protection is specifically for only a tenant or prospective tenant of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 195, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 195, S.D. 2.