STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2105

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2216

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 Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2216 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE ETHICS COMMISSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify and modernize the way the State Ethics Commission provides advice and conducts investigations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission and League of Women Voters of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the ethical landscape of public service is ever-evolving, and the State's ethics framework must adapt to those changes. Key components of a proactive ethical framework are the ability to provide timely advice and the investigative process for potential violations. This measure will address the need for clarity in the advice-seeking process by providing public officials with a secure mechanism to confidentially request advice and receive a written summary of any advice provided, while also making important housekeeping amendments to the investigative process to reduce the potential for misusing the process.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2216, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2216, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair