STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1591

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 158

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 158 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF ELECTIONS TO CONVENE A WORKING GROUP ON AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Office of Elections to convene a working group on automatic voter registration.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Prior to the hearing on this measure, your Committee posted and made available for public review a proposed S.D. 1, which amends this measure by:

(1) Deleting the contents of the measure;

(2) Inserting language urging the President of the United States, and all members of any current and future administration, to abide by the laws of the United States, including by complying with orders issued by United States courts;

(3) Inserting legislative findings; and

(4) Amending its title accordingly.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure or the proposed S.D. 1 from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii; Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Free Access Coalition; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Friends of Civil Rights; Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association; Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights; Stonewall Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Women Lawyers; Fujiwara & Rosenbaum, LLLC; and forty-three individuals.

Your Committee received comments on the proposed S.D. 1 from one individual.

Your Committee finds that under the United States Constitution no person, including the President of the United States, may disregard or disobey laws which he or she considers unfair, unjust, or otherwise illegitimate. Your Committee further finds that the founding fathers, aware of the risks posed by a government headed by a single, all-powerful king, intentionally created "a government of laws, not of men," and divided the power of government to make, enforce, and interpret the laws among three coequal and independent branches of government. The judicial branch of the United States government is a check on the awesome power of the other two branches of government, and which, unlike the legislative and executive branches, has no power other than its power to exercise its judgment over issues of federal law. However, despite the brilliant design of the United States judiciary created by the founding fathers, the President of the United States and his cabinet secretaries have repeatedly attacked the judiciary simply for carrying out its duty to interpret the laws and United States Constitution and not only attacked the normal operation of the judiciary, but have also repeatedly, openly, and shamelessly refused to comply with lawful court orders. Your Committee believes that if the President or any other government officer is allowed to simply disregard federal law or a lawful court order, the nation's elected leaders have abandoned the bedrock principles of the United States Constitution that inspired the founding fathers to create this great nation in the first place. This measure expresses the State's desire to defend the integrity of the nation's legal system and ensure that the government remains accountable to the people.

Your Committee notes that it received a petition signed by one hundred forty-three individuals in support of the proposed S.D. 1.

Your Committee has amended this measure by adopting the proposed S.D. 1.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 158, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 158, S.D. 1.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair