STAND. COM. REP. NO.  372-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 2378

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Legislative Management, to which was referred H.B. No. 2378 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAINING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to promote ethics in state government by, among other things:

     (1)  Requiring all members of boards, commissions, or committees to complete training in public agency meetings, information practices, and ethics within six months of the member's confirmation by the Senate;

     (2)  Establishing content requirements for the public agency meetings and information practices training course to be established and administered by the Office of Information Practices; and

     (3)  Requiring an additional ethics course to be provided in July of each year.

The League of Women Voters of Hawaii and Americans for Democratic Action Hawaii testified in support of this measure.  The Office of Information Practices, Hawaii State Ethics Commission, High Technology Development Corporation, Common Cause Hawaii, and an individual provided comments on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that the mandatory training on public agency meetings and information practices shall be administered in person or in an online format as determined by the Office of Information Practices and requiring that the Office provide certification of completion upon successful completion of the training;

     (2)  Clarifying that members of boards, commissions, and committees shall not be required to complete training in lobbying laws encompassed in Chapter 97, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

     (3)  Deleting the requirement that an additional ethics course be provided in July of each year because the Hawaii State Ethics Commission is already required to repeat ethics courses as necessary to accommodate all persons required to take the course;

     (4)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Legislative Management that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2378, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2378, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Legislative Management,

____________________________

SCOTT Y. NISHIMOTO, Chair