STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 845

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1551

S.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1551 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make various amendments to chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the State's sunshine law.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Authorizes the Office of Information Practices to enforce part I, chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes ("Sunshine" law);

(2) Allows a court to void a board's actions, taken in violation of the open meeting or notice requirements of the sunshine law, without proof of wilful violation;

(3) Allows the Office of Information Practices to waive any fee to access a record if the waiver is in the public interest;

(4) Requires the Judicial Council to select the candidates for the position of Director of the Office of Information Practices; and

(5) Specifies a six-year appointment term for the Director of the Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee understands that this measure will:

(1) Enable the Office of Information Practices to enforce compliance with open meeting requirements. Without this authority, government boards are able to disregard determinations of the Office of Information Practices without fear of legal action;

(2) Allow the courts, by removal of the proof of wilful violation requirement, the discretion to decide whether a board violation was of such magnitude as to require the action be voided; and

(3) Enable the Office of Information Practices to be the final arbiter regarding the waiver of fees to access a public record.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making:

(1) A technical amendment to clarify that the Office of Information Practices may not waive reproduction costs; and

(2) Technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1551, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1551, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

		____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair