STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1878

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1485

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1485, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VOTER REGISTRATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to, beginning on January 1, 2020, establish a process for automatically preregistering or registering to vote public school-enrolled students who are at least sixteen years old.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education; Office of Elections; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i; Pono Hawai‘i Initiative; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; League of Women Voters of Hawaii; Young Democrats of Hawai‘i; Common Cause Hawaii; Sierra Club of Hawai‘i; and three individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from thirteen individuals.

Your Committees find that voter turnout in the State remains low and continues to decline. In 2016, Hawaii had the lowest voter turnout in the United States, and in 2018 general election, only 52.7 percent of registered Hawaii voters cast ballots. Your Committees further find that recent world events have ignited a passion in younger generations around civic engagement and have led many sixteen and seventeen year-olds to become passionate about voting. This measure allows students who are at least sixteen years of age to preregister or register to vote, empowering a new generation of lifelong voters and increasing voter participation and civic engagement.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Making the findings section more concise and succinct by deleting certain findings;

(2) Inserting language that applies the automatic voter preregistration and registration provisions to charter school-enrolled students who are at least sixteen years old;

(3) Specifying that the Superintendent of Education shall be authorized, rather than required, to transmit the voter registration affidavits of students to the clerk of the county in which the applicant resides;

(4) Deleting language that would have required the clerk to determine whether an applicant is at least sixteen years of age and a citizen of the United States if the applicant is not currently preregistered or registered;

(5) Deleting language that, under certain conditions, would have required the clerk to provide written notification to an applicant of the process to opt out of the automatic voter preregistration or registration;

(6) Specifying that the Board of Education and Superintendent, in consultation with the Office of Elections, shall be authorized, rather than required, to adopt policies as necessary to maximize and facilitate the preregistration and registration of qualifying students to vote;

(7) Specifying that the State Public Charter School Commission, in consultation with the Office of Elections, may adopt policies as necessary to maximize and facilitate the preregistration and registration of qualifying students to vote; and

(8) 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 Education and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1485, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1485, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair