STAND. COM. REP. NO. 750

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 467

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 467 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PRIMARY ELECTION DATE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to provide more time for election officials to prepare for general elections by moving back the date of the primary election from the second to the last Saturday in September to the second Saturday in August. This bill also eliminates the prohibition of having a primary election precede a general election by less than 45 days.

The Office of Elections, Office of the City Clerk of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii State Teachers Association, and The League of Women Voters of Hawaii testified in support of this bill. The Hawaii Government Employees Association AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO opposed this measure.

Additional time is needed between the primary and general elections to address the following:

(1) The Federal Voting Assistance Program recommends providing 45 days for voters overseas and in the military to complete and return their absentee ballots for the general election; and

(2) Section 11-175.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, provides a process for complaints to be filed up to six days following a primary election. If a legal challenge were to occur, it would be difficult to comply with the federal guidelines relating to absentee ballots.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Changing the primary election date from the second Saturday in August to the first Saturday in September; and

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2020, for the purpose of continuing discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 467, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 467, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

 

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair