STAND. COM. REP. NO.2652

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2545

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2545, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a state information practices commission to study and make recommendations on where the Office of Information Practices should be permanently placed. Additionally, the commission is charged with recommending changes to the Uniform Information Practices Act and other issues of government records, disclosure, and privacy.

Your Committee finds that the Office of Information Practices has played a significant role in ensuring public access to government information while balancing privacy rights. At present, the Office of Information Practices is administratively attached to the Office of Lieutenant Governor as a temporary agency. Your Committee favors the designation of the Office of Information Practices as a permanent agency, but is aware that the Office of the Attorney General has opined that placing a permanent agency within the Office of the Governor or Lieutenant Governor may subject the agency to a constitutional challenge. The commission established by this measure can help avoid a constitutional challenge by providing valuable assistance on issues related to the Office of Information Practices' status as a permanent agency, as well as the Uniform Information Practices Act, and government information disclosure and privacy concerns.

Your Committee would like to explore the possibility of placing the Office of Information Practices under the Legislature and has amended the bill by changing the effective date from upon approval to July 1, 2050 to facilitate further discussion on this measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2545, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2545, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair