2011 Senate Bill 120 (Relating to the transfer of repealed special fund balances to the general fund)

• Senate on quest to find dormant funds
• Last week Friday, House Bill 775 passed without amendments from a second committee, with the intention of transferring the nearly $3.5 million left dormant in a revolving fund for the traffic camera law that was killed in 2002, and move those funds to the general fund.

The Senate is doing its own version of this kind of action. Senate Bill 120 was originally written to repeal 148 special funds. Although there were 800 pages of testimony submitted on the original version of the bill, no action was taken at the public hearing on Feb. 10, 2011. Then, on Feb. 25, the Ways and Means Committee (WAM) rewrote the bill so that it is partially about having the director of finance find any special funds that have been repealed and have unencumbered balances, which can be transferred to the general fund.

On Tuesday, March 1, WAM has scheduled the bill for decision making at 9:20 a.m. in Room 211. Anyone interested in commenting on the new version of the bill can send in testimony, but will not be allowed to testify at the decision-making hearing.

• Here is the first version of SB120 – 193 pages: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/lists/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=120
• Here’s the proposed SD1 version of SB120 – 48 pages: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/Bills/SB120_SD1_proposed_.pdf
• To see the status of this bill, and to send in testimony, go to: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/lists/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=120

Send comments to all the state Senators and Representatives about this or any other measures at:

• sens@capitol.hawaii.gov
• reps@capitol.hawaii.gov

Or find your individual Senator or Representative at:

• http://www.capitolhawaii.gov/session2011/members/senate/senatemembers.aspx
• http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/members/house/housemembers.aspx

Start a discussion at http://www.HawaiiVotes.org or on HawaiiVotes Facebook.

Hawaii Votes is a free public service of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Its purpose is to inform citizens, community leaders, business people, media, and public officials about legislation that affects their families, schools, jobs and communities. The site empowers citizens to take a more active part in the democratic process, and hold their elected representatives accountable. Hawaii Votes gives users instant access to concise, plain language and objective descriptions of bills, substantive amendments, and votes that take place in the Hawaii Legislature. Unlike any other bill tracking utility, Hawaii Votes is unique because all legislative actions are described - not just those selected by a particular interest group. It is searchable by legislator, keyword, and 50 subject categories, so users can create their own custom "voting record guide." See the Web site at http://www.hawaiivotes.org