STAND. COM. REP. NO. 158

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 299

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. 299 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BUDGET-RELATED SUBMISSIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Legislature to specify the form for which the proposed budgets of the executive branch, judiciary branch, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs are submitted to the Legislature.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that legislative staff spends critical time transcribing the proposed budgets from various departments and agencies into a cohesive document for public review. Your Committee also finds that this time could be efficiently utilized to analyze and contextualize individual proposed budget requests if submitted in a standardized format.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the executive branch, judiciary branch, and Office of Hawaiian Affairs to conform to this measure no later than December 1, 2023;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee has heard the testimony of the Department of Budget and Finance expressing concerns that changes to these reports may require a substantial time to reprogram the State's mainframe and the Department of Budget and Finance's budget eSystems. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to hear this measure, your Committee on Government Operations requests that they deliberate further on an exact date of transfer to the new budgeting system that would allow the departments to comply with this measure.

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. 299, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 299, 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