HR277

WHEREAS, the rules of the House of Representatives may be amended pursuant to House Rule 57 with one day's notice of the change by a majority vote of the members of the House; and

WHEREAS, in 2006, a series of resolutions to amend the House rules were referred to the House standing committee on Legislative Management for public hearing instead of floor action after one day's notice; and

WHEREAS, despite the expediency of what is stated in House Rule 57, there is merit in the referral and public hearing process as well, given these proposed amendments to the House Rules; and

WHEREAS, public hearings on bills being deliberated by various House standing committees are the public's opportunity to comment on the legislation that will affect their lives and behavior; and

WHEREAS, many of the House standing committees hold public hearings during regular work hours or on weekends and evenings, each situation requiring advance notice in order for an interested constituent to appear before the committee to testify; and

WHEREAS, there have been situations where notices for public hearings are posted during the late hours of Friday for a hearing on Monday, or where the requirement for two days notice is waived, reducing the chance of an interested constituent being able to alter their schedule to attend a public hearing; and

WHEREAS, the Senate adopted rules this year in order to facilitate the attendance of interested constituents by providing greater public notice of their hearings; and

WHEREAS, House Rule 12 describes the scope of the various House standing committees, including the Committee on Finance; and

WHEREAS, according to subparagraph 16 of House Rule 12, the Committee on Finance "may provide for such subcommittees in the performance of its duties including" a subcommittee on taxation, a subcommittee on Grants in Aid, and a subcommittee on capital improvements; and

WHEREAS, the House standing committee on Finance does provide for a subcommittee on Grants in Aid and a subcommittee on capital improvements, however, each committee is composed of one member, and neither area is put before a Finance committee vote before crossing to the Senate; and

WHEREAS, grants in aid and capital improvements are a part of the budget that deserve to be undertaken in a transparent manner; and

WHEREAS, House Rule 14 sets forth the criteria and organization of special committees, which the House uses on a regular basis to deliberate and research certain issues, most often during the interim; and

WHEREAS, the House is considering establishment of either an ethics or standards of conduct committee to deal with certain issues, and this committee may be defined as a special committee; and

WHEREAS, many of the issues referred to special committees, as well as the proposed ethics or standards of conduct committees, are not of a partisan nature; and

WHEREAS, equal representation on these types of committees reduces the possibility of politicizing an otherwise nonpartisan issue, making a fair and just resolution more likely; and

WHEREAS, the House and Senate leadership traditionally, and as a matter of practice, have agreed to joint written procedures that specify administrative and logistical procedures for Conference Committees, including meeting times, decision-making deadlines, meeting notices and so forth; and

WHEREAS, leadership in both the House and Senate have agreed in the past to include provisions in their Conference procedures that provide and give a single conference committee chair the power to outvote a majority of the committee; and

WHEREAS, inclusion of such a provision in Conference procedures would give individual Conference chairs the ability to unilaterally veto a Conference result notwithstanding support by the majority of the managers of the Conference committees and would otherwise provide any such chair with disproportionate power of the Conference result, an undemocratic result; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the House of Representatives hereby amends the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fourth Legislature to amend House Rule 11.5, subparagraph (1), to read as follows:

"(1) Meetings, including decision-making sessions, of standing committees shall be public. Notice shall be publicly posted or announced on the House floor at least forty-eight hours prior to the meeting, no later than 4:00 p.m. on the last work day of the week. In calculating the forty-eight hours required for valid public notice prior to a meeting, weekends and holidays shall not be taken into account. Notice of meetings may be shortened at the discretion of the Speaker upon request on the House floor by a chair or vice-chair and upon good cause shown."

; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives hereby amends the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fourth Legislature to amend House Rule 12, subparagraph (16), to read as follows:

"(16) Committee on Finance, whose scope shall be those programs relating to overall State financing policies, including taxation and other revenues, cash and debt management, and statewide implementation of planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation. The committee may provide for such subcommittees in the performance of its duties including:

(a) Subcommittee on Taxation;

(b) Subcommittee on Purchases of Health and Human Services and Grants in Aid, provided that the subcommittee on Grants in Aid shall be composed of at least five members, with proportional representation of the minority party; and

(c) Subcommittee on Capital Improvements, provided that the subcommittee on Capital Improvements shall be composed of at least five members, with proportional representation of the minority party."

; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives hereby amends the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fourth Legislature to amend House Rule 14.2, to read as follows:

"14.2. Special committees shall consist of not less than three members each, unless otherwise ordered by the House, to serve until discharged or until finally reporting on such matters referred to them, provided that special committees dealing with ethical issues or investigations of members shall be composed of an equal number of majority and minority members."

; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives hereby amends the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fourth Legislature to add a new Rule 16.6, to read as follows:

"16.6 To report a measure out of Conference Committee in an amended form (CD), a majority of the quorum of House Committee managers must vote in favor of the proposed amendments."

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

House Rules; amendment

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	277
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII