STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3396

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 70

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 70 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF ELECTIONS TO PROVIDE A STATUS UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HAWAII'S NEW VOTER REGISTRATION SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Office of Elections to provide the Legislature a status update on the implementation of the new voter registration system.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Elections and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of the City Clerk, City and County of Honolulu.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii allocated $4,000,000 of funds provided pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) for a new voter registration and election management system.  This measure requests a status update on the implementation of the new voter registration system to ensure that the project is being properly managed and will be ready for use for the 2018 elections.

     Your Committee notes the comments from the Office of the City Clerk of the City and County of Honolulu that the migration from the existing voter registration system, which the Office of the City Clerk manages, to the Office of Election's new statewide voter registration and election management system may pose a variety of problems.  Success in this migration and shift in responsibilities will depend on the Office of Elections and its vendors to properly develop, refine, and administer the new management software that governs processes that are not the operational or legal responsibilities of the Office of Elections, such as voter registration, vote by mail, or early voting.  Your Committee believes that the counties are essential stakeholders in the transition and migration from the existing to the new voter registration system and has concerns about whether the Office of Elections will be able to meet the new system's scheduled implementation date.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Office of Elections, in addition to submitting a status update prior to the Regular Session of 2017, to submit a preliminary status update to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2016;

     (2)  Adding the Chairperson of the Elections Commission and the County Clerks of each county to the list of recipients; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 70, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 70, S.D. 1.

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

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair