RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, HRS §26-4 establishes the Department of Transportation and §26-19 creates its single executive to head the department who shall be known as the Director of Transportation; and

WHEREAS, HRS §26-32 allows the Director of Transportation to designate some other officer in the department to act on behalf of the director in the director's temporary absence or illness; and

WHEREAS, the same statute places responsibility and liability on the director and the director's official bonds for all acts done or performed by the person designated to act on behalf of the director in the director's absence; and

WHEREAS, in an effort to decentralize the internal processes of the department, deputies of the department have been signing official department memorandum and other official documents on behalf of the director, when the director is known to be available; and

WHEREAS, this decentralization may call into question the validity of those documents; and

WHEREAS, a management audit might uncover deficiencies that could be remedied with better planning and implementation; 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 Auditor is requested to perform a management audit of the Department of Transportation to include, but not be limited to:

(1) Assessing the organizational structure of a decentralized department;

(2) Assessing the benefits of decentralizing the department; and

(3) Determining whether this decentralization effort complies with the powers of the director and deputies as set forth in statute; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Auditor is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this concurrent resolution be transmitted the Auditor and the Director of Transportation.

Report Title:

Management Audit of the Department of Transportation.