STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2711

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2315

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2315, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XVII, SECTION 3 OF THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO SPECIFY THAT THE STANDARD FOR VOTER APPROVAL OF A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED BY THE LEGISLATURE IS A MAJORITY OF ALL THE VOTES TALLIED UPON THE QUESTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to propose an amendment to the Hawaii State Constitution to provide that constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature shall be effective only if approved at a general election by a majority of all the votes tallied upon the question.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii and two individuals.

Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Libertarian Party of Hawaii and two individuals.

Your Committee recognizes that the Hawaii State Constitution provides for a two-step process for ratifying a proposed constitutional amendment in a general election. First, a majority of voters must have voted "yes" on the proposed amendment question, based on the majority of all the votes tallied upon the question. Second, this majority must also represent a majority of all votes cast in the election, per the requirement that the majority constitute at least fifty percent of the total vote cast at the election, meaning that all ballots that are validly returned are considered to have been cast. Your Committee notes that this means that if voter responds to a proposed constitutional amendment question by leaving the answer blank, spoiling the ballot, or over voting, the answer is counted as a "no" vote. Your Committee also recognizes that this effectively makes the threshold for passing a state constitutional amendment significantly higher than fifty percent of the voters voting "yes" or "no" on the amendment question. Your Committee believes that to prevent confusion and avoid unintended results, with respect to a constitutional amendment question proposed by the Legislature, the only votes that should be tallied for the question should be the "yes" votes and "no" votes, and not any blank, spoiled, or over votes.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

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. 2315, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2315, 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