STAND. COM. REP. NO. 948-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 2069

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2069, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GIFTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish procedures for the custody, inventory, and care of protocol gifts received by members of either house of the Legislature or state employees.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission, and Common Cause Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that legislators and state employees accept protocol gifts on behalf of the State from individual donors, government agencies, entities, and organizations, including foreign officials, federal officers, state officials from another state, and other representatives of government agencies, entities, or organizations, as a gesture of goodwill or to strengthen national and international relationships. Your Committee further finds that there is no uniform set of procedures regarding the custody, inventory, and maintenance of these protocol gifts. Your Committee believes that the guidance provided in this measure will preserve objects of historical significance for the State while promoting government transparency and accountability.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the definition of "protocol gift" to clarify that:

(A) The gift is tendered to or received by a legislator or state employee on behalf of the State or either house of the Legislature; and

(B) The definition includes gifts from a foreign official, federal officer, state official from another state, or other representative of a government agency, an entity, or an organization; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2069, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2069, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair