STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2788

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2334

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Board of Education to include an open forum for public comments on non-agenda items at the end of board meetings;

(2) Require the Board of Education to hold not less than six community forums annually, with at least one forum in each county; and

(3) Require a report to the Legislature on implementing the open forums mandate.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Information Practices and League of Women Voters of Hawaii. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Board of Education.

Your Committee finds that community forums improve the public's access to the Board of Education and provide the Board with more information to assist in its decision-making and priority setting. Your Committee further finds that the Board of Education should receive public input at its noticed regular public meetings and by reaching out to the public through community forums. This measure seeks to increase communication between the community-at-large and the Board of Education.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language into chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requiring the Board of Education to include an open forum at the end of its meeting agenda to afford all interested persons an opportunity to present oral testimony on any matter not on the agenda; 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 Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair