STAND. COM. REP. NO. 317

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 869

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 869 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY OUTREACH 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) Include community outreach boards in existing provisions of the State's Sunshine Law relating to neighborhood boards; and

(3) Authorize neighborhood board and 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 the Kaʻū Community Development Plan Action Committee, Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee, Hamakua Community Development Plan Action Committee, and three individuals.

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

Your Committees find that there is a need for the statewide adoption and application of neighborhood and county boards to enable these boards to gather more information pertaining to the issues facing their communities to allow policy makers to make informed decisions. By defining "community outreach board" and including the board in existing legislation pertaining to neighborhood boards, the transparency required by the State's Sunshine Law can be equitably applied to community outreach boards while allowing these boards to continue to expand and support local communities. With clear, uniform regulation, community outreach boards can operate with certainty, encouraging public participation in local government and addressing local issues for communities across the State.

Your Committees note the request from the Office of Information Practices for examples of community outreach boards, stating that the distinction between neighborhood boards and community outreach boards is unclear. One example would be the various Community Development Plan Action Committees under the Planning Department of the County of Hawaii. Each Action Committee is composed of nine residents from the respective Community Development Program planning area. The residents volunteer to serve as stewards of the community's plan, facilitating its implementation and recommending updates as needed.

Your Committees also note the concern raised by the Public First Law Center that allowing members of neighborhood and community outreach boards to organize meetings or presentations without following the open meeting requirements of the Sunshine Law goes against the intent of the provision, which is to allow as a permitted interaction, board members to attend informational meetings organized by other groups.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have allowed neighborhood and community outreach boards to organize meetings or presentations as a permitted interaction under the Sunshine Law;

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(3) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2491, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 869, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 869, 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 Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair