STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2565

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3184

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. 3184 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROCUREMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize emergency procurements in situations such as equipment failure and repairs to public property that are necessary to protect against further loss or damage to public property, or to prevent or minimize serious disruptions in government services; and

(2) Remove the need for approval of the Chief Procurement Officer for these emergency procurements, provided that the head of the purchasing agency making the procurement accounts for the money spent submits an accounting report to the Legislature within sixty days after the end of the fiscal year in which the emergency procurement was made.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Law Enforcement, Hawaii State Public Library System, and one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the State Procurement Office.

Your Committee finds that existing public procurement code does not include situations of an unusual or compelling urgency that, without the continued government service, would be a threat to life, public health, welfare, or safety. This measure allows emergency procurements in those circumstances thereby allowing greater flexibility and efficiency for the appropriate department or agency to directly address the need, determine and perform appropriate action, and close out financial obligations to restore the conditions of the property or operation against further loss, damage, or serious disruptions in essential government services, while retaining government accountability and transparency.

However, your Committee recognizes the concerns raised by the State Procurement Office and notes that other agencies have attempted to justify the use of after-the-fact emergency procurement for systemic and maintenance-related projects that could have been avoided with regular monitoring or prevention programs. Accordingly, there is a need to amend this measure to address this concern.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Narrowing the scope of this measure to a three-year pilot program that authorizes the Department of Law Enforcement to contract for goods, services, and construction through emergency procurement for the district described in section 4-1(2)(D), Hawaii Revised Statutes, under certain circumstances;

(2) Requiring the Director of Law Enforcement to submit a report to the Legislature on the pilot project; and

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 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. 3184, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3184, 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