CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 132

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2021

RE: S.B. No. 332

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

C.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sirs:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 332, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PREAUDIT PAYMENTS,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to temporarily amend for one year the powers and duties of the Comptroller to reduce the preaudit requirements of all proposed payments to expenditures.

Your Committee on Conference finds that the State's forty-five-year-old accounting software system is a dated processing system that requires substantial human intervention and paper processing because it was not designed with automated checks and balances embedded in the programming methodology. Your Committee on Conference further finds that updating the preaudit process for proposed payments can help the State provide more effective, efficient, and expeditious services to the public. Your Committee on Conference notes that the new Financial Management System project, which will replace the outdated manual process, will also help preserve and strengthen the integrity of the Comptroller's pre-audits and post-audits.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1) Allowing the Comptroller to preaudit proposed payments that are less than $100,000;

(2) Requiring the Comptroller to preaudit proposed payments of expenditures of $100,000 or more;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2021 and inserting a sunset date of July 1, 2024; and

(4) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 332, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 332, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY Co-Chair	____________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI Chair
____________________________ TINA WILDBERGER Co-Chair	____________________________ DRU KANUHA Co-Chair