STAND. COM. REP. NO.  582

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 461

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 461 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to support the Office of Information Practices (Office) by:

     (1)  Transferring the Office from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to the Department of Accounting and General Services and establishing it as a permanent agency;

     (2)  Clarifying the independence of the Office as an administratively attached agency and its attorneys as independent from the Department of the Attorney General;

     (3)  Clarifying the employment status and the civil service exemption for Office personnel transferred by this Act; and

     (4)  Appropriating funds to the Department of Accounting and General Services for positions to provide administrative support to the Office.

The Office of Information Practices and League of Women Voters Hawaii supported this measure.  The Department of Accounting and General Services and a concerned individual commented on this measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 461 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 Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair