STAND. COM. REP. NO.  555

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   H.B. No. 61

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 61 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NON-GENERAL FUNDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Reclassify the Hawaiian Home Receipts Fund and Supreme Court Bar Examination Fund; and

 

     (2)  Repeal the Probation Services Special Fund.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to on this measure from the Judiciary and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

Your Committee finds that recent reports of the Auditor have clouded the classification of the Hawaiian Home Receipt Fund.  Specifically, Auditor Report No. 20-16 found that the fund functions like a trust account and should therefore be classified as a trust account.  Similarly, in Auditor Report No. 20-17, the Auditor noted that although the Supreme Court Bar Examination Fund is classified as a trust fund, it operates more as a special fund.  In the same report, the Auditor noted that the Probation Services Special Fund is not self-sustaining, with expenditures annually exceeding revenues.  This measure clears any doubt about the classification and repeal of these funds by adopting the recommendations of the Auditor.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 3021, to encourage further discussion; 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. 61, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 61, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair