STAND. COM. REP. NO.379

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1490

S.D. 1

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Science, Arts, and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 1490 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC ACCESS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to create a pilot project for videoconferencing access on the neighbor islands for legislative hearings, and require all new state buildings to have videoconferencing capabilities.

Although the Department of Accounting and General Services supported the concept of establishing a statewide videoconferencing system, it was unable to support the measure due to the potentially prohibitive cost of implementation.

Your Committee finds that expanding public access to the state legislative process for the neighbor islands and rural areas of Oahu is both equitable and desirable. One method for expanding access is to increase videoconferencing capabilities and use by connecting existing videoconferencing technology in state facilities to conference rooms at the State Capitol and by requiring all new state facilities to include videoconferencing capability that will be connected to the Capitol.

Your Committee has amended the measure by:

(1) Deleting the provisions that propose the establishment of a videoconferencing special fund and all references thereto;

(2) Delaying the requirement that all newly constructed state facilities contain videoconferencing capabilities from July 1, 2003, to July 1, 2005;

(3) Expanding the uses of the videoconferencing capabilities to include executive branch hearings;

(4) Substituting the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) for the Department of Accounting and General Services as the agency responsible for administering the videoconferencing pilot project, and requiring the LRB to report on the status and impact of the project to the 2004 Legislature;

(5) Reducing the life of the pilot project from two years to one year; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Science, Arts, and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1490, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1490, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Science, Arts, and Technology,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair