RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Hawaii is an island-state in which the State Capitol, the hub of our state government, is located on the island of Oahu in the heart of Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, each member of the Hawaii State Legislature maintains an office within the State Capitol building at 415 South Beretania Street; and

WHEREAS, 23 members of the Hawaii State Legislature--16 members of the House of Representatives and 7 members of the Senate--reside on and represent our Neighbor Islands; and

WHEREAS, these Neighbor Island legislators represent between one-fourth and one-third of the state's population and are dispersed throughout Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui counties; and

WHEREAS, with few exceptions, legislative committee hearings and informational briefings regarding measures that may have a great impact on our Neighbor Island communities are only held at the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, the work of the Legislature requires a significant amount of interaction with the people throughout the state to get to know, fully understand, and address the multiple and many-faceted concerns legislators are challenged with; and

WHEREAS, the ability of Neighbor Island residents to have their concerns heard by legislators in the context of public hearings, informational briefings, or one-on-one meetings is constrained by the geography of the islands, the distance between the State Capitol building on Oahu and the Neighbor Islands, and the rapidly increasing expense of traveling to Oahu to represent their concerns in person; and

WHEREAS, as a result, most Neighbor Island residents who wish to testify in public hearings, participate in informational briefings, or meet directly with their area legislators are limited to submitting written testimony or writing letters and email and do not have the opportunity to engage in direct discussion with legislators; and

WHEREAS, modern information technology enables legislative committees and individual legislators to receive public testimony and input from remote locations by means of video-conferencing; and

WHEREAS, the use of video-conferencing has the potential of saving taxpayers a significant amount of money by reducing the need for legislators and their staff to fly throughout the state to conduct meetings and gather information; and

WHEREAS, state legislatures in large western states such as Nevada, Wyoming, and Alaska routinely provide citizens who live great distances from their capitol with the ability to testify before committees through the use of satellite-based video-conferencing; and

WHEREAS, video-conferencing provides another option for allowing citizens to participate in the legislative process and broadening the scope of assistance the legislators may provide to their constituents; and

WHEREAS, using video-conferencing technology in legislative public hearings, informational briefings, and to meet with their area legislator would enable Neighbor Island residents to participate more directly in the legislative process; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Comptroller is requested to determine the feasibility of providing video-conferencing capability in the State Capitol to ensure close communication between residents of the Neighbor Islands and their elected officials; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that as part of the review, the Comptroller is requested to identify:

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Comptroller is also requested to identify all existing state and county video-conferencing systems statewide, including but not limited to their hours of operation and requirements for use; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Comptroller is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Comptroller.

Report Title:

Video-conferencing in the Hawaii State Capitol