STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1485

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1225

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1225 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SALARY PAYMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to repeal an unnecessary provision in the law that requires the Governor to sign the paychecks of the Comptroller and Deputy Comptroller.

     Your Committee received comments in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services.

Your Committee finds that requiring the Governor to manually sign certain paychecks is an outdated method of internal control to prevent alteration of paychecks that is no longer necessary since the paychecks of state employees are no longer manually issued and signed.  Although the signatures of the Comptroller or Deputy Comptroller appear on state paychecks, the signatures are now laser printed.  In addition, the paychecks of most state employees are directly deposited into an account of a financial institution, further reducing opportunities for paycheck alteration.  The repeal of this outdated internal control will allow more efficient use of staff and resources.

     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 H.B. No. 1225, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair