STAND

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO.20

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 801

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 801 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate an unspecified sum to the Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee received testimony supporting this measure from the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Hawaii Public Access Media, and a concerned citizen.

Your Committee finds that the Office of Information Practices (OIP) serves an important role in advising both members of the public as well as government offices on issues that arise in the specialized area of public access law. Public confidence is enhanced when OIP serves as a neutral third party applying the law in contentious situations between members of the public and government offices.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 801 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

		____________________________ COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair