STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2714

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2058

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2058 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NEIGHBORHOOD BOARDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Define "community outreach board" to mean a board established to serve in a community advisory capacity under a county commission or a county department;

(2) Make community outreach boards subject to existing provisions of the Sunshine Law applicable to neighborhood boards; and

(3) Authorize neighborhood board or community outreach board members to organize meetings or presentations related to official board business statewide.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from two individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices and Public First Law Center.

Your Committees find that county neighborhood and advisory boards provide local communities with opportunities to participate in government. Likewise, community outreach boards serve as an intermediary between residents and government leaders to understand local concerns, gather and disseminate information, and create solutions in a collaborative environment. Therefore, your Committees believe that the Sunshine Law should also apply to community outreach boards. This measure will preserve open access to board activities without hindering the important function community outreach boards serve as a grassroots tool that is essential to thriving communities statewide.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have included in the definition of a "community outreach board" boards established to serve in an advisory capacity under a county commission;

(2) Clarifying that the notice and agenda, public input, and quorum requirements of the Sunshine Law apply to community outreach boards created in counties other than the City and County of Honolulu, and overseen by a county-based department;

(3) Deleting language that would have allowed neighborhood board and community outreach board members to organize meetings or presentations statewide; and

(4) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion.

Your Committees have amended this measure to exclude its applicability to neighborhood boards. However, this creates a subject title problem because the contents of the measure no longer match its title. Your Committees respectfully request that, should this measure move forward in the legislative process, this issue be addressed.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2058, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2058, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair