STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2969

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2147

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 Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2147 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NOMINATION PAPERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Extend by one month the deadline by which nomination papers for candidates for elected office shall be made available; and

(2) Repeal on the same date of the repeal of section 4 of Act 14, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Elections.

Your Committee finds that in February 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that it would likely delay delivery of the 2020 census results to the fifty states by as much as six months or more. This created delays with the 2021 Reapportionment and Redistricting Plan in the State. Your Committee further finds that reapportionment should occur before a candidate for the 2022 election is issued a nomination paper to ensure that the candidate not only meets the residency requirements, but also collects signatures from voters in the correct district. This measure provides for additional time for nomination papers to be made available.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 30, 2075, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2147, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2147, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair