STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2354

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2414

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2414 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend ballot requirements to display candidates for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Board of Trustees, by residency and non-residency requirements and to randomize the order of candidate names within those groupings.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Elections.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, names of candidates for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are placed on the ballot in alphabetical order. Your Committee further finds that the ordering of candidate names on a ballot has been shown to affect election outcomes because the first name on the ballot generally has an advantage over names listed further down the ballot. To mitigate any advantage that may arise from the order of candidate names on the ballot, this measure requires that the names of candidates for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs be randomized on individual ballots.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2414 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair