36
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                                
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

REQUESTING A STUDY OF THE APPLICABILITY OF THE "SUNSHINE LAW" TO
   NEIGHBORHOOD BOARDS' COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES.



 1       WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu established the
 2   Neighborhood Board System (Board System) in 1973 to "increase
 3   and assure effective citizen participation in the decisions of
 4   government"; and
 5   
 6       WHEREAS, section 1-7.1 of the Revised Neighborhood Plan
 7   (Plan) sets forth the powers, duties, and functions of a
 8   neighborhood board and addresses regular and special meetings
 9   of a neighborhood board; and
10   
11       WHEREAS, the Plan provides that:
12   
13          The board shall be entitled to form committees as
14          necessary to carry out its function.  The function
15          of such committees shall be to report its findings
16          and to propose recommendations to the neighborhood
17          board for appropriate action.  No committee may
18          speak for the board;
19   
20   and
21   
22       WHEREAS, sections 4-7.1 and 4-7.2 of the Plan concern
23   meetings and notice that address regular, special, and
24   rescheduled meetings but are silent as to committee meetings;
25   and
26   
27       WHEREAS, section 4-7.2(c) of the Plan, which concerns
28   notice of meetings, states in its entirety that "[a]ll boards
29   shall comply with Chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes"; and 
30   
31       WHEREAS, by letter dated May 5, 1998, from the Neighborhood
32   Commission Executive Secretary to all neighborhood board chairs
33   accompanied by correspondence from a Deputy Attorney General
34   and a Deputy Corporation Counsel addressing the applicability
35   of the "Sunshine Law", Chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   (HRS), to neighborhood board committee activities, the
 2   Executive Secretary advised the neighborhood boards that
 3   committee meetings are subject to Chapter 92, HRS, and public
 4   notice must be given seven days in advance and minutes must be
 5   recorded; and
 6   
 7       WHEREAS, the May 5, 1998, advisory letter also noted that
 8   as the "Neighborhood Commission Office is structured and
 9   budgeted for its staff to attend one meeting per board per
10   month", each board would be responsible for recording its own
11   minutes for all special meetings and all committee meetings;
12   and
13   
14       WHEREAS, the Board System, which is advisory only, is
15   comprised of volunteer citizens who are elected (or appointed
16   in the event of a vacancy) from their respective communities to
17   serve two-year terms, and whose committees are without
18   authority to establish policy, grant permits, appropriate
19   public monies, or otherwise exercise any legal authority, yet
20   serves as an important community forum and representative voice
21   for the thirty-two organized neighborhoods on Oahu; and
22   
23       WHEREAS, since mid-1998 current changes in the manner of
24   conducting committee activities has had a chilling effect and
25   served to reduce the fact-finding and community dialogue
26   activities of committees that occur between a board's regular
27   meetings, in direct contradiction to a board's mission, which
28   is "to increase and assure effective citizen participation in
29   the decisions of government"; and
30   
31       WHEREAS, the Neighborhood Commission and several
32   neighborhood boards including the Diamond Head/Kapahulu/Saint
33   Louis Heights Neighborhood Board No. 5, Manoa Neighborhood
34   Board No. 7, McCully-Moiliili Neighborhood Board No. 8, and
35   Kailua Neighborhood Board No. 31 have adopted resolutions
36   voicing concerns that the application of Chapter 92, HRS,
37   interferes with the efficient conduct of the Board System, and
38   expressed support for an evaluation of and amendment to section
39   92-1, HRS, to exempt neighborhood board committee activities,
40   exclusively, from Chapter 92, HRS; now, therefore,
41   
42       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
43   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, the Senate
44   concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested
45   to conduct a study concerning the applicability of Chapter 92,
46   HRS, to neighborhood board committee activities, and to propose
47   appropriate amendments to the statutes to specifically exempt
48   neighborhood board committees from their requirements; and

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference
 2   Bureau submit a report of the findings and recommendations,
 3   including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later
 4   than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session
 5   of 2001; and
 6   
 7       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 8   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted the Governor; the Attorney
 9   General; the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu; the
10   Chairman of the Honolulu City Council; the Director of the
11   Legislative Reference Bureau; the Director of the Office of
12   Information Practices; and the Neighborhood Commission.
13   
14 
15 
16 
17                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________