STAND. COM. REP. 2587

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2406

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2406 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify the adoption, amendment, and repeal of administrative rules and the reliance of other decisions and orders when rendering a decision and order on a rule.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by Life of the Land. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Accounting and General Services and Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

Your Committee finds that there is a need to clarify the adoption, amendment, and repeal of administrative rules and the reliance of other decisions and orders when rendering a decision and order on a rule. Your Committee believes that this measure addresses those needs and ensures that the public's right to participate in the State's administrative rulemaking process is not diminished by clarifying that a public agency may not:

(1) Rely upon another agency's compliance with section 91-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, regarding the process of adopting, amending, or repealing an administrative rule, when adopting, amending, or repealing its own administrative rule;

(2) Utilize a contested case proceeding to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative rule without also complying with the rulemaking process of section 91-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes; or

(3) Rely upon its past decisions and orders or the decisions and orders of other agencies to resolve a contested case proceeding.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2406 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair