STAND. COM. REP. NO. 514

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 872

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 872 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ETHICS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the State Ethics Commission to employ or retain its own attorneys.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Ethics Commission and Democratic Party of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that existing law prohibits any state agency from hiring attorneys, except for the agencies specified under section 28-8.3(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes.  This measure adds the State Ethics Commission as one of those agencies that are exempt to allow the Commission to hire and retain attorneys other than deputy attorneys general for legal representation, counsel, or drafting services.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting section 1 and renumbering the remaining sections accordingly; and

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 872, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 872, 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 and Labor,

 

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair