Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations (JGO) - chair: Taniguchi, vice chair: Takamine

Thursday, February 12, 2009, 9:30 A.M. Conference Room 016

Testifier: Jean Aoki, LWV of Hawaii Legislative Liaison

Click here to view SB1103

Chair Taniguchi, Vice Chair Takamine, members of the JGO Committee, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii is in strong support of SB 1103 which would establish a commission to identify existing laws that are obsolete, redundant, conflicting or ineffective. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is voluminous and somewhat confusing enough already, and if there are unnecessary laws on the books, certainly a commission to really go through them carefully to identify those laws that need deleting or those that need amendments is an excellent idea. We believe that the make-up of the commission and the recognition that it would be an ongoing process of review without time limits, and yet with provisions for biennial reporting to the legislature, will encourage and make possible the systematic review of our laws. The legislature can take appropriate action to keep our Hawaii Revised Statutes current, free of conflicting laws, etc. as the biennial reports recommends. The selection of the commission members is varied and includes both the executive and judicial branches of our government, and the University of Hawaii. There is provision for replacing some department heads after two years to bring in the heads of some of the other departments which enhances the ability of the commission to look at the laws from different perspectives which the varied membership at the outset already allows. To give the legislature a more direct opportunity in the formation of the commission, we would suggest that the Speaker of the House and the Senate President be allowed to appoint two department heads in lieu of giving recommendations to the Governor on her pick of the departments heads for the commission. We like the provision for public participation in determining whether a law is obsolete, redundant, or conflicting. We urge the adoption of SB 1103. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this bill.