STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2423

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2960

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2960 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make the Chief Information Officer subject to the hiring and dismissal by the Information Technology Steering Committee, instead of the Governor, and removes the Chief Information Officer as the Chair of the Steering Committee.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Enterprise Technology Services and Hawaii Technology Development Corporation.

Your Committees find that frequent changes in leadership, which can affect policy directions, for information technology programs of the Executive Branch can be detrimental to the long-term and overall development of information technology in Hawaii. The National Association of State Chief Information Officers stated that the average tenure of a state Chief Information Officer is roughly twenty months because in most states the Chief Information Officer is appointed and often loses the position with a change in administration.

Your Committees recognize that from 2010 to 2016, Hawaii witnessed a high turnover rate in the Chief Information Officer position, and with each change came a new direction for the State's information technology plans. The constant change in direction was not beneficial to the State, as it did not allow for the effective adoption of technology, which resulted in numerous failed projects, wasting hundreds of millions of tax dollars. Your Committees believe that creating a stable Chief Information Officer position with an appointment term of six years will provide stability in the State's information technology plans.

Your Committees have amended this measure, as suggested by the Office of Enterprise Technology Services, by:

(1) Deleting language that would have made the Chief Information Officer subject to the hiring and dismissal of the Information Technology Steering Committee instead of the Governor;

(2) Administratively attaching the Information Technology Steering Committee to the Department of Accounting and General Services;

(3) Requiring the members of the Steering Committee to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate;

(4) Decreasing the number of members on the Steering Committee and amending the requisite background of members and duties and other requirements of the Steering Committee;

(5) Requiring the Chief Information Officer to be appointed by the Governor from a list of no less than three and no more than five nominees submitted by the Steering Committee, and added experience requirements for the Chief Information Officer;

(6) Inserting a term limit of six years for the Steering Committee members and Chief Information Officer; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2960, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2960, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology and Labor,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair