THE SENATE                           S.R. NO.              78
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING STATE AGENCIES TO SUBMIT AN ELECTRONIC COPY OF
    DOCUMENTS PRODUCED PURSUANT TO LEGISLATIVE REQUEST.



 1        WHEREAS, state agencies are often requested or mandated to
 2   submit studies, reports, and other documents to the Legislature
 3   in hard copy form, but very few of these materials are
 4   accompanied by an electronic copy of the documents; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, finding state agency reports required by the
 7   Legislature can be a difficult task for citizens because there
 8   exists no comprehensive list of these reports; and
 9   
10        WHEREAS, although legislatively mandated or requested
11   reports are not readily available to the public because their
12   distribution is usually limited to legislators, submission of
13   an electronic copy would enable the Legislature to post these
14   reports on their website; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, the public is currently charged fifty cents per
17   page for copying public documents, which is a hardship on many
18   citizens, and accessing these same documents through the
19   internet would allow a significantly more citizen-friendly
20   method of providing documents to the public; and
21   
22        WHEREAS, most state agencies are already generating
23   reports requested or mandated by the Legislature in electronic
24   format, and submitting these reports in electronic format would
25   not impose an unreasonable burden; now, therefore,
26   
27        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
28   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, that all state
29   agencies are requested to submit to the Legislature, in
30   addition to a hard copy, an electronic copy of any studies,
31   reports, or other documents that are requested or mandated by
32   the Legislature, through a law or resolution; and
33   
34        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all Senate and House standing
35   committees are requested to include in all resolutions and
36   measures requesting or requiring submission of studies,
37   reports, and other documents to the Legislature language
38   calling for submission of an electronic copy of these
39   documents; and
40   

 
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                                     S.R. NO.           78
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Joint Legislative Access
 2   Committee is requested to post the electronic versions of the
 3   documents on the Legislature's website prior to the legislative
 4   session for which the document is requested; and
 5   
 6        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 7   Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor, Legislative Reference
 8   Bureau, Ombudsman, Judiciary, and to the Governor, who in turn
 9   is requested to transmit copies to all executive agencies.
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11 
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13                           OFFERED BY: ___________________________