1 SENATE/HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2 THE 21ST LEGISLATURE
3 INTERIM OF 2002
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9 JOINT SENATE-HOUSE INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE HEARING
10 JULY 18, 2002
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14 Taken at the State Capitol, 415 South Beretania,
15 Conference Room 325, Honolulu, Hawaii, commencing at
16 9:08 a.m. on Thursday, July 18, 2002.
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18
19
20 BEFORE: SHIRLEY L. KEYS, RPR, CM, CSR 383
21 Notary Public, State of Hawaii
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1 APPEARANCES:
2
3 Senate-House Investigative Committee:
4 Co-Chair Senator Colleen Hanabusa
5 Co-Chair Representative Scott Saiki
6 Vice-Chair Representative Blake Oshiro
7 Representative Ken Ito
8 Representative Bertha Kawakami
9 Representative Bertha Leong
10 Representative Barbara Marumoto
11 Senator Norman Sakamoto
12 Senator Sam Slom
13
14 Also Present:
15 Special Counsel James Kawashima
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1 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Good
2 morning, members. We'd like to convene our Joint
3 Senate/House Investigative Felix Committee. We will
4 begin with roll call.
5 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Co-Chair
6 Saiki?
7 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI:
8 Present.
9 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Vice-Chair
10 Kokubun is excused. Vice-Chair Oshiro?
11 VICE-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE OSHIRO:
12 Here.
13 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
14 Buen is excused. Representative Ito?
15 REPRESENTATIVE ITO: Here.
16 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
17 Representative Kawakami is excused. Representative
18 Leong?
19 REPRESENTATIVE LEONG: Here.
20 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
21 Representative Matsuura? I mean -- sorry, Representative
22 Marumoto?
23 REPRESENTATIVE MARUMOTO: Here.
24 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
25 Matsuura is excused. Senator Sakamoto?
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1 SENATOR SAKAMOTO: Yes.
2 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
3 Slom?
4 SENATOR SLOM: Here.
5 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Hanabusa is
6 here. We have quorum.
7 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Thank
8 you, members. The purpose of this morning's session is
9 to convene in the executive session to receive an update
10 from our counsel from the Attorney General's office and
11 from the legislative auditor regarding the Federal Court
12 proceedings and the status of our investigation.
13 The second purpose of our session is to
14 consider the possibility of issuing further subpoenas, so
15 with that, co-chairs would like to recommend that we
16 convene in executive session.
17 Is there any discussion? If not, we'll
18 take a roll call vote.
19 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Co-Chair
20 Saiki?
21 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Yes.
22 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Vice-Chair
23 Oshiro?
24 VICE-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE OSHIRO: Yes.
25 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
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1 Representative Ito?
2 REPRESENTATIVE ITO: Yes.
3 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
4 Representative Leong?
5 REPRESENTATIVE LEONG: Yes.
6 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
7 Representative Marumoto?
8 REPRESENTATIVE MARUMOTO: Here. Yes.
9 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
10 Sakamoto?
11 SENATOR SAKAMOTO: Yes.
12 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
13 Slom?
14 SENATOR SLOM: Yes.
15 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Motion is
16 carried.
17 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Okay,
18 thank you, members. We'll convene our executive session
19 next door and we'll return to our public hearing in this
20 room in approximately 45 minutes. Recess.
21 (Recess.)
22 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Thank,
23 you, members. We'd like to reconvene our hearing.
24 After discussions in executive session,
25 co-chairs are prepared to make three recommendations for
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1 the committee's authorization this morning. The first
2 deals with the motion for reconsideration that was filed
3 on December 17, 2001 relating to the subpoena that this
4 committee issued on Judith Schrag.
5 Just for edification, this committee
6 authorized and served the subpoena on Dr. Judith Schrag,
7 who's a member of the technical advisory panel, on
8 September 18, 2001. On September 27, Dr. Schrag
9 requested an accommodation from this committee in terms
10 of the timing of the -- of her hearing date before this
11 committee. This committee did indicate to her that we
12 would accommodate her schedule.
13 On October 25, the US Attorney's Office
14 then filed a motion to quash the subpoena that we had
15 issued on Dr. Schrag, and on October 31, the Federal
16 Court granted that motion. They granted that motion.
17 The Federal Court also referred the matter to the
18 magistrate for negotiations between the parties to work
19 out an agreement on how to handle the subpoena and to
20 define the scope of the subpoena.
21 We have learned in the past two weeks
22 that negotiations concerning this subpoena have broken
23 down and that the motion for reconsideration that this
24 committee had filed is now pending before the court, and
25 given this information, the court judge would like to
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1 recommend that we authorize our attorneys to take all
2 appropriate action to represent this committee in the
3 proceedings dealing with the motion for reconsideration.
4 Is there any discussion? If not, we'll
5 take the vote.
6 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Okay.
7 Motion before the committee is to take all appropriate
8 action in the matter of the motion for reconsideration of
9 Judith Schrag's subpoena, which was filed by this Joint
10 Senate/House Investigative Committee to investigate the
11 State's efforts to comply with the Felix Consent Decree.
12 Co-Chair Saiki?
13 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Aye.
14 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Vice-Chair
15 Oshiro?
16 VICE-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE OSHIRO: Aye.
17 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
18 Representative Ito?
19 REPRESENTATIVE ITO: Aye.
20 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
21 Representative Kawakami?
22 REPRESENTATIVE KAWAKAMI: Aye.
23 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
24 Representative Leong?
25 REPRESENTATIVE LEONG: Aye.
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1 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
2 Representative Marumoto?
3 REPRESENTATIVE MARUMOTO: Aye.
4 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
5 Slom?
6 SENATOR SLOM: Aye.
7 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Motion is
8 carried.
9 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Okay.
10 Thank you, members.
11 Members, the second issue that we'd
12 like to address is the issue of issuing further subpoenas
13 for investigation. At this point the committee would
14 like to focus on some matters dealing with the Department
15 of Health's management of the Felix Consent Decree.
16 With that, co-chairs would like to
17 recommend that we authorize subpoenas to be issued to the
18 following individuals, all from the Department of Health:
19 Doug Miller, Alton Tamashiro, David Drews, Leonard
20 Batungbacal, Patricia Harnish, Keli Acquaro, Sharon
21 Tomas, Virginia Shaw, Mary Brogan, Cheryl Lamb, Jeanne
22 Miller, Joy Domingues, Carol Matsuoka, Kuulei Wilton and
23 Nona Meyers.
24 Is there any discussion? If not, we'll
25 take the vote.
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1 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Members,
2 the motion before us was the issuance of the subpoenas as
3 read by Co-Chair Saiki. Co-Chair Saiki?
4 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Aye.
5 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Vice-Chair
6 Oshiro?
7 VICE-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE OSHIRO: Aye.
8 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
9 Representative Ito?
10 REPRESENTATIVE ITO: Aye.
11 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
12 Representative Kawakami?
13 REPRESENTATIVE KAWAKAMI: Aye.
14 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
15 Representative Leong?
16 REPRESENTATIVE LEONG: Aye.
17 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
18 Representative Marumoto?
19 REPRESENTATIVE MARUMOTO: Aye.
20 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
21 Slom?
22 SENATOR SLOM: Aye.
23 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Co-Chair
24 Hanabusa, aye. Matter carries.
25 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Thank
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1 you, members.
2 The final item this morning deals with
3 another motion that was filed by plaintiffs' attorneys in
4 the Felix litigation, and this was a motion for sanctions
5 against the attorneys in the case. Specifically the
6 issue that was raised in this motion was whether or not
7 the Attorney General's office is under a conflict of
8 interest in its representation of the various parties in
9 this case.
10 The co-chairs would like to recommend
11 that we authorize our attorneys to take all appropriate
12 action to represent the committee in the proceedings
13 dealing with this motion.
14 Is there any discussion? If not, we'll
15 take the vote.
16 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Motion
17 before the committee is to take all appropriate action --
18 directing the attorneys to take all appropriate action in
19 motions for sanctions presently pending in the Federal
20 District Court. Vice-Chair Saiki?
21 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Aye.
22 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: I mean --
23 sorry, Co-Chair Saiki?
24 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Aye.
25 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Vice-Chair
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1 Oshiro?
2 VICE-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE OSHIRO: Aye.
3 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
4 Representative Ito?
5 REPRESENTATIVE ITO: Aye.
6 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
7 Representative Kawakami?
8 REPRESENTATIVE KAWAKAMI: Aye.
9 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
10 Representative Leong?
11 REPRESENTATIVE LEONG: Aye.
12 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA:
13 Representative Marumoto?
14 REPRESENTATIVE MARUMOTO: Aye.
15 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Senator
16 Slom?
17 SENATOR SLOM: Aye.
18 CO-CHAIR SENATOR HANABUSA: Matter
19 carries.
20 CO-CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE SAIKI: Thank
21 you, members. I believe there are no other matters
22 before this committee, so we'll adjourn. Thank you.
23 (Hearing concluded at 10:24 a.m.)
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1 C E R T I F I C A T E
2 STATE OF HAWAII )
3 ) SS.
4 CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU )
5 I, SHIRLEY L. KEYS, Notary Public, State of
6 Hawaii, do hereby certify:
7 That the hearing was taken down by me in
8 machine shorthand and was thereafter reduced to
9 typewriting under my supervision; that the foregoing
10 represents to the best of my ability, a true and correct
11 transcript of the proceedings had in the foregoing
12 matter.
13 I further certify that I am not an attorney
14 for any of the parties hereto, nor in any way concerned
15 with the cause.
16 DATED this ______ day of _____________, 2002,
17 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
18 ______________________________
SHIRLEY L. KEYS, CSR 383
19 Notary Public, State of Hawaii
My Commission Exp. May 19, 2003
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