STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2415

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3332

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 Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 3332 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE-FUNDED TRAVEL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Impose a two-year moratorium on discretionary state-funded travel, with certain narrowly tailored exceptions;

(2) Permit the Department of Accounting and General Services to adopt rules or issue guidance to implement this measure;

(3) Require state agencies to submit annual reports to the Legislature regarding their compliance with the moratorium; and

(4) Require the Department of Accounting and General Services to submit a summary report to the Legislature on the moratorium.

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

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the University of Hawaii Public Assembly.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Department of Education, and State Procurement Office.

Your Committee finds that, with the uncertain economic environment that the State has entered, it is paramount that the State practice prudent stewardship of limited public resources. State-funded travel is often beneficial for collaboration and professional development held in conferences and forums, but your Committee believes that the travel must be closely scrutinized to ensure that it is essential, cost-effective, and aligned with the State's highest priorities. This measure will increase government accountability and fiscal responsibility and limit unnecessary spending at a time when the State's financial health is especially precarious.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have limited travel for professional development, training, conferences, forums, or employee recruitment to not more than three employees;

(2) Deleting language that would have required state agencies to include identified cost savings compared to the previous two fiscal years in their annual reports;

(3) Inserting language to require state agencies to include in their annual reports an identification of travelers by position number to protect the confidentiality of each traveler;

(4) Deleting language that would have required the Department of Accounting and General Services to compile and submit a summary report on the state-funded travel moratorium to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2028;

(5) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2525, to encourage further discussion; 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 Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3332, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3332, 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,

________________________________

ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair