STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2502

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2461

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2461 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VOTER INFORMATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Office of Elections to prepare a questionnaire on certain issues to which candidates may respond; and

(2) Require the Office of Elections to publish any responses provided by a candidate on its website and in the digital voter information guide no later than eighteen days before a primary election.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii and one individual.

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

Your Committee finds that including information regarding a candidate's positions on relevant issues in the digital voter information guide would benefit voters in the State by empowering voters to make informed decisions when voting. This measure will therefore reduce the number of low-information voters and boost civic engagement.

Your Committee notes the concern raised by the Office of Elections that it does not possess the subject matter expertise to develop questions on policymaking, nor does the Office believe that it would be appropriate for it to determine and frame questions that may influence a voter's thought process. Therefore, amendments to this measure are necessary to address this concern.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to specify the questions that shall appear on the candidate questionnaire;

(2) Deleting language that would have required the Office of Elections to develop questions on policymaking for the candidate questionnaire based on certain criteria;

(3) Clarifying that it shall be optional for a candidate to respond to any question on the questionnaire;

(4) Specifying that should a candidate respond to a question, the response shall be written and be less than one hundred words;

(5) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(6) 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. 2461, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2461, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair