STAND. COM. REP. NO. 494

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 235

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Government Operations and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 235 entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require:

 

     (1)  State agencies to hold public hearings in the county or counties that are primarily impacted by the proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of any administrative rule; and

 

     (2)  At least one public hearing with thirty days' notice on each island with residents or communities on which the proposed rule will likely have a significant monetary impact.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the County of Hawaii Department of Environmental Management and County of Hawaii Planning Department.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Office of Information Practices.

 

     Your Committees find that administrative rule changes may have a significant financial impact on residents, and it is important to give residents an opportunity to provide public comment.  Public input assists in the vetting process for rules and helps rule makers avoid unintended consequences.  Especially when rules stand to impact certain islands more than others, public, in-person hearings are vital to uphold transparency and accountability in the rulemaking process.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding language to clarify that if electronic communications are used to supplement an in-person hearing, and the electronic communications between locations are interrupted or terminated, the in-person public hearing may continue and the interruption or failure of electronic communications shall not be a basis for challenging the rulemaking process; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 235, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 235, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Judiciary and Labor,

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

 

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair