STAND. COM. REP. NO. 498

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1122

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 1122 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE SENATE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require nominees for the position of Deputy Director, First Deputy, or Deputy Chair, as the case may be, of principal departments to be subject to advice and consent of the Senate.

Your Committee did not receive any testimony on this measure.

Your Committee finds that the deputy directors of executive agencies hold vast amounts of power and influence in the State government, and they are responsible for considerable swaths of departmental agencies. Accordingly, your Committee finds that a nominee for the position of Deputy Director, First Deputy, or Deputy Chair should be subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. Further, your Committee feels that advice and consent for deputy directors should be codified in law and not be subject to the whims of the opinion of an attorney general.

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. 1122 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair