STAND. COM. REP. NO. 768

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 654
                                        




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 654 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LEGISLATIVE AGENCIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to require the appointment of
first deputies or first assistants of legislative service
agencies to be subject to the advice and consent of the Joint
Legislative Management Committee.

     Specifically, this measure requires the Ombudsman and the
Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau to subject the
appointments of their first assistants to the advice and consent
of the Joint Legislative Management Committee.  This measure also
authorizes the Legislative Analyst and the Auditor to appoint
first deputies subject to the advice and consent of the joint
management committee.

     Your Committee finds that the complexity and volume of
operations within all the legislative service agencies
necessitates the appointment of either a first deputy or first
assistant to assist the directors or chief officers of those
agencies.  Furthermore, subjecting those appointments to the
advice and consent of the Joint Legislative Management Committee
ensures the impartiality of the persons appointed to those posts.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 768
                                   Page 2


     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.
654 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 Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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