STAND. COM. REP. NO. 411

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 723

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 723 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY MEETINGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote transparency and accessibility in county government by permitting county council members to jointly attend and speak at certain community meetings or presentations; provided that the meetings or presentations are events open to the public.

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Information Practices; League of Women Voters of Hawaii; Society of Professional Journalists, Hawaii Chapter; Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest; Common Cause Hawaii; and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that county council members are expected to determine how community members feel about policy issues and enact legislation addressing issues when advisable, yet compliance with state law has required council members to leave community meetings or decline invitations to attend community meetings.  Your Committee further finds that permitting council members to attend these public meetings will not jeopardize openness in government because council members do not have control over agendas, discussions, or outcomes of meetings conducted by non-council members.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 723, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 723, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair