STAND. COM. REP. NO.  101-10

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2010

RE:   H.B. No. 2185

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2185 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure that military residents who have been deployed out-of-state are provided with an opportunity to vote in Hawaii's elections by rescheduling the primary election to an earlier date to provide adequate time to deliver absentee ballots to deployed military voters by the date specified in the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act.

     The Department of Defense and The League of Women Voters of Hawaii supported this bill.  The Office of Veteran Services supported the intent of this measure.  The Office of Elections submitted comments.

     Your Committee finds that this bill, in conjunction with H.B. No. 1899, as amended, will give our country's deployed military personnel adequate time to participate in the democratic process they fight to preserve and protect by allowing them to receive mail-in ballots no later than 45 days before the election.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1)  Requiring that the primary and general elections in Hawaii are never less than 70 days apart;

(2)  Changing the effective date to November 3, 2112, to encourage further discussion; and

(3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2185, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2185, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs,

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair