STAND. COM. REP. NO.431

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1499

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 Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1499 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIFORM INFORMATION PRACTICES ACT (MODIFIED),"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a temporary panel administratively attached to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, whose purpose is to select and appoint the director of the permanent Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, the ACLU, and a concerned citizen. The Office of Information Practices did not take a position.

Your Committee finds that the Office of Information Practices (OIP) plays a vital role in our democratic form of government. The OIP, among other things, provides government offices, agencies, and departments with guidelines and opinions on whether a government record is publicly accessible, and rules on denials of public access. Because the director of the OIP is currently selected by the governor, an appearance of a conflict of interest may exist when the OIP rules in favor of the government agency.

Your Committee further finds that the OIP and its director must be neutral and objective in deciding whether and under what circumstances to order access of a government record. For this reason, your Committee amended the bill by:

(1) Attaching the OIP to the Office of the Auditor instead of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor;

(2) Establishing a permanent Information Practices Appointment and Review panel in the Office of the Auditor instead of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor;

(3) Specifying that the governor shall select one member for the panel, two members from a list of nominees submitted by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, two members from a list of nominees submitted by the president of the Senate, one member from a list of nominees submitted by the Mayor of Honolulu, and one member from a list of three nominees submitted by the mayors of Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii; and

(4) Including language for the transfer of employees, equipment, appropriations and powers to the Office of the Auditor.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1499, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1499, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair