STAND. COM. REP. NO. 493

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1509

S.D. 1

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. 1509 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE ARCHIVES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish additional funding sources and authorize additional expenditure of moneys for the State Archives Preservation and Long-Term Access Special Fund.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, University of Hawai‘i System, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that historic music, audio recordings, and artifacts are preserved at the Hawaii State Archives and available for free public access. Digitizing the recordings and images will make them more readily available and further serve to provide an invaluable resource locally and globally that further cements the cultural impact of the Hawaiian heritage. This measure furnishes the resources sorely needed to expand access to services of the State Archives.

Your Committee has heard the testimony of the University of Hawai‘i System expressing concerns that this measure as drafted would expand the scope of the Hawaii State Archives collection beyond historic records of state government and impact the University's library and archival repositories. Additionally, your Committee has heard the concerns of the Department of Budget and Finance that federal funds should not comingle with the State Archive's special fund. Your Committee finds merit to these concerns.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would expand the scope of the State Archives;

(2) Deleting language that would have allowed federal and private grant monies to be deposited into the State Archives Preservation and Long-Term Access Special Fund, to ensure that federal grant funds are not maintained in the Trust account;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 21121, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment 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. 1509, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1509, 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,

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ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair