STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1552

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1214

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1214, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STATE-COUNTY FUNCTIONS WORKING GROUP,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Auditor to provide for the expenses of the state-county working group.

     Your Committee received written comments on the measure from the Office of the Auditor.

     Your Committee finds that the two-year state-county working group was established under Act 174, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, and administratively placed within the Office of the Auditor to evaluate, among other things, the division of duties and responsibilities between the State and the counties relating to the provision of public services.  The Act provided that reimbursements would be made to the working group members by the Auditor, based upon a request to the Legislature in 2015 and 2016 for an appropriation equal to the reimbursements made and expected to be made.  Your Committee finds that reimbursements for travel and report production costs for fiscal year 2014-2015 were $150,000, and it is estimated that the fiscal year 2015-2016 costs for consultant services, meetings, and final report production will increase to $165,000.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion of the measure.

     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 H.B. No. 1214, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1214, H.D. 1, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair