STAND. COM. REP. NO. 225-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 2480

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Government Operations, to which was referred H.B. No. 2480 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CERTIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to set a fee for the issuance of an apostille or a non-apostille certification; and

(2) Establish and appropriate funds into and out of the Apostilles and Certifications Special Fund.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.

Your Committee finds that the Office of the Lieutenant Governor provides approximately ten thousand authentication services every year for all public and general documents that are used overseas, including powers of attorney, marriage certificates, birth certificates, divorce decrees, probated and un-probated wills, judgments, agreements, transcripts, and more. However, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor is unable to accept credit card or web-based payments to authenticate documents, and those seeking an apostille or certification must pay $1 per authentication in cash or obtain a cashier's check that most banks charge $15 to process. This measure ensures that the Office of the Lieutenant Governor can execute its constitutional obligations and modernize its processes to best serve the public in a cost-effective and convenient manner.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2480, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2480, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair