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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
URGING THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE TO FOLLOW THE
   HAWAII CONSTITUTION AND THEIR RESPECTIVE RULES BY HOLDING
   CONFERENCE COMMITTEES, INCLUDING DECISION-MAKING, OPEN TO
   THE PUBLIC.



 1      WHEREAS, for the past several years, the Legislature has
 2 held conference committee hearings, including decision-making, in
 3 secret, outside the presence of minority members of the
 4 Legislature and the public; and
 5      WHEREAS, the conference committee has become the most
 6 important stage of the legislative process, where most
 7 legislation is molded into its final form or rejected before
 8 final passage by the Legislature; and
 9      WHEREAS,  it has been the fundamental right of every person
10 in Hawaii to participate in an open legislative process; and
11      WHEREAS, the will of the people of Hawaii to enjoy open
12 government is expressly protected in Article III, Section 12 of
13 the Hawaii State Constitution states: "Every meeting of a
14 committee in either house or of a committee comprised of a member
15 or members from both houses held for the purpose of making
16 decision on matters referred to the committee shall be open to
17 the public; and
18      WHEREAS, even the House of Representatives, in its Rules of
19 the House of Representatives, State of Hawaii, The Twentieth
20 Legislature (1999-2000), recognizes and adheres to the
21 constitutional mandate for open meetings in Rule 16.4 which
22 states: "It is the position of the House that conference
23 committee meetings and decision-making sessions shall be public";
24 and
25      WHEREAS, despite the clear and unequivocal mandate for open
26 meetings and decision-making, it has been the practice of the the
27 leadership of both houses to hold conference committees and
28 decision-making in secret, outside the presence of conference
29 committee members and the public; and
30      WHEREAS, such clandestine practices are not only
31 unconstitutional, but contrary to every American democratic
32 principle that government must be "of the people, by the people
33 and for the people,";
34      WHEREAS, current clandestine practices undermines the
35 legitimacy of past legislative action; and

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      WHEREAS, what is to become of every budget, appropriation,
 2 tax, fee, crime, and every other bill that has become law through
 3 this illegal and unconstitutional conference committee process;
 4 and
 5      WHEREAS, there is a crisis of unimaginable proportions
 6 unless both houses of the Legislature follows the Hawaii
 7 Constitution and its respective rules by holding conference
 8 committees and decision-making open to the public; and
 9      WHEREAS, the time to act legally is now, not next
10 Legislative Session; now, therefore,
11      BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
12 Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of
13 2000, the Senate concurring, that the House of Representatives
14 strongly urges both the Senate and the House of Representatives
15 to immediately follow the Hawaii Constitution and their
16 respective rules by holding conference committees and decision-
17 making open to the public; and
18      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Concurrent
19 Resolution be transmitted to the Leadership of both the Senate
20 and the House of Representatives.
21 
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24                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________
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