STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2975

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3244

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. 3244 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LEGISLATIVE REAPPORTIONMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to repeal the definition of permanent resident for legislative reapportionment purposes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Common Cause Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that reapportionment is the process of re-distributing seats for elected officials so that the seats are relatively evenly distributed based on the resident population. The Hawaii State Constitution requires that reapportionment for state senators and representatives be based on the average number of "permanent residents" in each district. Any resident not deemed permanent, even if included in the decennial United States census is extracted from the total used by the State Reapportionment Commission, and therefore not factored into the allocation of state senate and house districts. This measure will ensure that all individuals that are extracted but live in a specific area are counted for representation purposes for that district regardless of whether they are permanent residents.

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. 3244, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3244, 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