Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation and Government Operations and Intergovernmental Affairs and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 515 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the creation, use, and storage of government records in electronic format, as well as the conversion of existing paper and microfilm documents to electronic format.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Human Resources Development, the Office of Information Practices, the Attorney General, and the University of Hawaii.

Previously, your Committees heard S.B. No. 666, the Senate companion to this measure, and amended S.B. No. 666 to exempt public officers of the Legislature from the Comptroller's authority regarding disposition of government records. This is an exemption already provided to the Judiciary, with the disposition of judiciary records contained in section 602-5.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

In subsequent hearings, the Comptroller expressed concerns that exempting the Legislature would lead to duplication of services and would be counterproductive to the development of uniform standards.

It is not your Committees' intent to create a separate records system. However, as a separate branch of government, it is appropriate for the Legislature to establish its own policies relating to the disposal of legislative records. To that end your Committees have amended this measure to:

Your Committees believe this is a practical alternative that will preserve the Legislature's authority over its own records, while ensuring that appropriate policies and procedures can be developed with the assistance of the Comptroller.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Government Operations and Intergovernmental Affairs and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 515, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 515, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.