STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1073

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 5

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 5 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF 21ST CENTURY DATA GOVERNANCE FOR FACT-BASED POLICYMAKING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Recognize the importance of 21st century data governance for fact-based policymaking;

(2) Urge the Department of Health, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Human Services, Judiciary, and county police departments to compile and share existing and disaggregated data on native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the general public in an expeditious manner;

(3) Urge the same departments to work with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Hawaii COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Team to develop procedures and agreements for improving data collection, processing, retention, governance, and sharing with respect to native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and other relevant demographics, and to each report to the Legislature; and

(4) Urge the Governor to establish a Task Force on 21st Century Data Governance to assess the current data collection, processing, retention, and sharing procedures, needs, and challenges across state agencies and report to the Legislature.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Enterprise Technology Services, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, InterAgency Council for Immigrant and Refugee Services, Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Hawai‘i Friends of Civil Rights, Papa Ola Lōkahi, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Na Pu‘uwai, ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka (Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians), Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawai‘i, and twenty-nine individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee finds that state departments and agencies need timely, comprehensive, and detailed data to accurately evaluate and improve services for the populations they serve. According to testimony received by your Committee, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic underscored the importance of disaggregated race, ethnicity, and spoken language data in delivering critical health care information and other services for native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, and limited English proficient persons in the State. Your Committee further finds that disaggregated data helps to develop good policies through informed decision-making in our State, as well as to leverage and incorporate the data in relevant federal grant applications. This measure would help state agencies address issues with the collection and disaggregation of data on native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in a systemic and transparent manner.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 5 and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Operations,

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SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair