STAND. COM. REP. NO. 730

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1170

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1170, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase government accountability and transparency by requiring a public hearing or informational briefing on certain studies and audit reports funded by the Legislature.

 

Specifically, the measure:

 

(1)  Requires any study or audit report enacted with a legislative appropriation and conducted by executive departments and agencies, the Auditor, the Judiciary, the Legislative Reference Bureau, or the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to be submitted to the chairs of the applicable subject matter committee of each house, the presiding officers of each house, and the Legislative Reference Bureau library; and

 

(2)  Requires a public hearing or informational briefing on the study or audit report within one year of its receipt, unless the time is extended or the requirement is waived.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of the Auditor and one individual.  The Department of Budget and Finance submitted written comments on the measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that state agencies expend valuable time and resources to complete studies and audit reports required by the Legislature, and the results are often not widely reviewed by legislators or the public.  Your Committee further finds that requiring a public hearing or informational briefing will serve the public interest by facilitating discussion and analysis of the findings and recommendations contained in the studies and audit reports.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that the reasons for granting an extension of time or waiver of the required public hearing or informational briefing shall be publicly noticed at the state capitol.

 

     Your Committee respectfully notes that subsequent committees to which this measure is referred may wish to consider whether certain routine studies and reports may warrant exclusion from the public hearing or informational briefing requirement, or require less frequent hearings or briefings.

 

     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. 1170, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1170, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair