STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2162

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2691

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2691 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow boards to file a copy of the notice of public meetings with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor or appropriate county clerk's office via electronic mail.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Taxation, Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Hawaii Technology Development Corporation, Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, and Common Cause Hawaii. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee finds that email is a common form of communication that is expedient and efficient and is widely used by public agencies and boards throughout the State. Allowing boards to provide required notice of public meetings via email will increase efficiency by reducing administrative costs.

Your Committee has heard testimony expressing concerns that the Lieutenant Governor's office has no publicly verifiable system or timestamp to notify the public when it has received electronic notice of public meetings.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing "filed with" and "filed" with "provided to" and "provided" where those terms appear in the new statutory language for consistency; and

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2035, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2691, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2691, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair