STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3386

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2449

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 2449, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII STATE ARCHIVES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is as follows:

 

     (1)  Part I of this measure appropriates funds to establish staff positions in the Hawaii State Archives;

 

     (2)  Part II of this measure authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds to finance the construction of an additional building for the state archives to expand and create new spaces for collections processing, storage, administrative use, public research, exhibitions, listening, learning, and community engagement; and

 

     (3)  Part III of this measure requires:

 

          (A)  All departments, offices, and agencies to conduct an inventory of all documents in their possession related to the culture and history of Hawaii and Native Hawaiians; and

 

          (B)  The Hawaii State Archives to develop a transfer plan to acquire those documents.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from thirty-eight individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education, Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Health, Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawai‘i System, Office of the State Librarian, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Hawaii State Archives, an entity responsible for collecting, arranging, describing, and making accessible the public archives of the State, is an irreplaceable part of Hawaii's legacy, history, culture, and identity.  Your Committee also finds that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, which greatly disrupted the public's ability to travel and access the Hawaii State Archive records in person, highlighted the need to post more of the records online to be accessible to people around the world, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  However, the State Archives facility, which was designed seventy years ago, is severely outdated in both form and function to provide the digitization infrastructure necessary for such large-scale access.  Your Committee finds that the facility is currently at ninety-eight percent of its approximately 14,000 cubic feet of storage-capacity and is projected to reach full capacity in the next biennium.  This measure will assist the Hawaii State Archives to continue fulfilling its mission to "ensure open government by preserving and making accessible the historic records of state government and to partner with state agencies to manage their active and inactive records".

 

     Your Committee notes the significant number of testimonies raising concerns over Part III of this measure based on various issues, including staffing, funding, confidentiality, professional ethics and standards, centralization of resources, and access, and recommending that Part III be removed from the measure.  Your Committee appreciates the clarification provided by the Hawaii State Archives during the hearing, stating that it did not request Part III of this measure to be considered by the Legislature.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting Part III;

 

     (2)  Amending section 3 to reflect its amended purpose;

 

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2449, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2449, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts,

 

 

 

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair