STAND. COM. REP. NO. 552

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1015

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 1015 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COMPTROLLER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to expand the Comptroller's duties to include the assessment of state agency office space, including initiating, canceling, and renegotiating current and new leases and to coordinate teleworking infrastructure requirements to support State agency tenants.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services.

Your Committee finds that remote teleworking during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has enabled the State to make better use of its limited resources, including office space, furnishing, equipment, electrical and data requirements, storage space, and other traditional needs of employees who work at state facilities. According to the testimony received by your Committee, the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) manages roughly one percent of the entire state building inventory. Your Committee further finds that the level of administrative oversight that this measure demands is beyond the current capacity of DAGS.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Directing the Comptroller to perform specific duties relating to office space management, authorizing space allocation, and determining telework infrastructure requirements for state agencies occupying facilities managed by DAGS; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1015, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1015, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Operations,

________________________________

SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair