Senate Committee on Transportation, International and Intergovernmental (TIA) - chair: English, vice chair: Gabbard

Monday, February 2, 2009, 1:15 P.M. Conference Room 224

Testifier: Jean Aoki, LWV of Hawaii Legislative Liaison

Click here to view SB277

Chair English, Vice Chair Gabbard, members of TIA Committee, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii strongly supports SB 277 that would allow the State Attorney General to contract with the counties for processing and issuing state identification cards. More and more, certain citizens are left out of different government processes like voting or even access to bank services for the lack of a picture ID. The Satellite City Halls, (we're not sure what is available on the neighbor islands) are ideally suited for this task. They have the capability of taking photos and producing plastic cards with photos. They are more conveniently located and more accessible to the average citizen. We just ask that the charges to our residents for this service not make it inaccessible to some. We also suggest that the counties be appropriately compensated by the State for providing this service. Thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of SB 277.