Several Measures Await Governor’s Signature

News Release from Transform Hawaii Gov, May 30th, 2018

The 2018 legislative session may have adjourned, but the process for a bill to become law is far from over, as the governor has until July 10 to sign bills into law, veto bills, or allow them to become law without his signature.

As mentioned in the last THG newsletter, several pieces of priority legislation succeeded in being passed this year. The governor has until June 25 to decide whether to place any of the bills he has received from the Legislature on his Notice of Intent to Veto list. If a bill is not on the list by that date, the bill cannot be vetoed and will become law with or without the governor’s signature. The governor then has to July 10 to either veto the bill or let it become law.

Among the hundreds of bills awaiting action (or inaction) by the governor, here are the bills THG has been tracking:

• HB2607, Relating to Education, requiring the Department of Education to develop and implement a statewide computer science curricula plan for public school students in K-12 and ensure each public high school offers at least one computer science course each school year.
• HB2395, Relating to Electronic Filing, authorizing the Hawaii Department of Taxation to require certain taxpayers to file returns electronically, subject to exceptions for reasonable cause as provided by administrative rules.
• HB2651, Relating to Wireless Broadband Facilities, establishing a process to upgrade and support next generation wireless broadband infrastructure throughout the State.
• HB2373, Relating to the Sharing of Vital Statistics Records with Department of Health Program Employees for Approved Research Purposes, authorizing the Department of Health to disclose public health statistics records internally within the Department of Health for approved research purposes.

HCR 94, a concurrent resolution that does not require the governor’s signature, asks the state’s IT Steering Committee to submit a State Government IT Strategic Plan to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of next session. Development of the plan is tasked to the IT Steering Committee and provides the opportunity to chart the course for further improving the delivery of programs and services to citizens, businesses and those working in state government.