STAND. COM. REP. NO. 815

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1550

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1550 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PRIMARY ELECTION DATE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to move the date of the primary election from the second to last Saturday in September to the second Saturday in August.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Elections, the Office of the County Clerk of the County of Hawaii, the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and several concerned individuals. 

 Your Committee finds it critical to increase the time between primary and general elections to afford elections personnel adequate time to prepare, print, and mail ballots, and to allow for ballot revisions when primary election results are challenged.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1550 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 Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair