STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2784

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2288

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2288, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GOVERNMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to facilitate transparency with respect to travel conducted for official state business.

Specifically, the measure:

(1) Generally, requires that travel reports submitted by state employees, officers, or other representatives of state departments or agencies, in connection with out-of-state or intra-state travel for purposes of official state business, be made available for public review on the Comptroller's website; and

(2) Appropriates moneys for the Department of Accounting and General Services to provide digital and searchable public access to the travel reports.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and Department of Accounting and General Services.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Education and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Your Committee finds that state business travel reports should generally be readily available to the public, so that the operations state departments and agencies are more transparent. Your Committee believes that transparency promotes accountability and helps to ensure that the governmental entities are good stewards of public moneys.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Providing that a travel report relating to off-island travel need only be made available on the Comptroller's website if the travel was for a non-essential purpose;

(2) Providing that a travel report need not be made available on the Comptroller's website if the travel was:

(A) Necessitated by due process compliance, litigation, prosecution, or a student referral or placement that requires confidentiality of the travel event; or

(B) Only intra-island and was made by a member of a board, commission to or from a meeting of that board or commission;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2026; and

(4) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2288, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2288, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair