STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2662

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3105

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 3105 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC AGENCY MEETINGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to enable boards and commissions to conduct on-site inspections of locations that are related to the board's business at which attendance by the public is not practicable.

More specifically, the measure authorizes a board or commission to hold a limited meeting in a location that is closed to the public for reasons of practicality, so long as the board or commission determines prior to the limited meeting that an on-site inspection is necessary.  The bill also transfers responsibilities for concurrence regarding limited meetings from the Attorney General to the Director of the Office of Information Practices.

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from the state Office of Information Practices, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and a private citizen.

     Your Committee recognizes that information-gathering by a board or commission often requires an on-site visit or inspection to a location that is not open to the public.  Your Committee finds that this measure helps boards and commissions to make more informed decisions while still ensuring that the public's business is conducted as openly as possible.

To ensure openness, your Committee amended the measure to require sufficient public deliberation before the board decides to hold the on-site closed meeting.

     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. 3105, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3105, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair