STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2709

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2116

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2116 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BOARD MEETINGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require boards to:

(1) Use interactive conference technology to remotely conduct public meetings in conjunction with in-person meetings that allow for public participation; and

(2) Archive minutes of meetings on their websites.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii and Public First Law Center.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Crime Victim Compensation Commission.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, Board of Regents of the University of Hawaiʻi, and Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee finds that Act 220, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, allowed boards subject to the State's Sunshine Law the option of using interactive conference technology to conduct remote meetings. Your Committee further finds that remote meetings have increased transparency by allowing more public members to participate even if they live far from the physical location of the meeting. Accordingly, this measure further promotes the public interests in transparency and participation by requiring boards to conduct remote meetings by interactive conference technology and make the minutes of their meetings readily accessible to the public through their websites.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring boards to hold hybrid meetings;

(2) Requiring boards to also archive the recordings of its meetings on their websites; and

(3) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion.

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. 2116, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2116, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair