STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2151

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2397

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2397 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NEIGHBORHOOD BOARDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish that, when a neighborhood board of the City and County of Honolulu has a vacancy, a majority of all seats that are filled shall constitute a quorum to conduct business and a majority vote of the members present at the board's meeting shall validate an act of the board as part of its official business.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from six individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee finds that official business conducted by neighborhood board meetings throughout the City and County of Honolulu have been delayed or cancelled repeatedly because of the inability of neighborhood boards to reach a quorum due to frequent vacancies. This measure will enable the productivity and efficiency of the neighborhood boards for the betterment of communities by lowering the threshold for what constitutes a quorum for conducting business to a majority of all filled seats on the neighborhood board and for what constitutes a quorum for validating a neighborhood board's official business to a majority of all the neighborhood board members present.

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. 2397 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair