Bill Text: HI SB2218 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Qualifications of State Senators and Representatives; Residency

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-02-14 - (H) Referred to LMG, JUD, FIN, referral sheet 27 [SB2218 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB2218-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2065

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2218

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2218 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF HAWAII RELATING TO RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to propose a constitutional amendment to increase the residency requirements for candidates for a seat in the state Senate or House of Representatives by requiring the candidates to be residents of the State for not less than five years and residents of the district from which they seek to be elected for not less than twelve consecutive months prior to the next succeeding general election.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Iron Workers Stabilization Fund.  Testimony in opposition to the five-year residency requirement was submitted by the League of Women Voters of Hawaii.  One private individual submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee finds that while the state constitution requires that state Senate and House of Representatives candidates be residents of the State for at least three years, candidates are not required to be residents of the legislative districts they are seeking to represent.  Thus, it is possible for a candidate to express an intention to move into a senatorial or representative district prior to filing nomination papers without possessing sufficient knowledge of the issues concerning the voters of the district the candidate seeks to represent.

 

     Your Committee recognizes that a person may have more than one residence, but only one domicile.  Generally, a domicile is a person's legal home where the person has physical presence with the intention to make it the person's true, fixed, and permanent home.  Requiring candidates to be domiciled within the district they seek to represent provides greater assurance to voters that candidates listed on the ballot are knowledgeable about issues affecting not only the entire State, but also the district that the candidates seek to represent.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the requirement that a candidate be a resident of the State for five years, thereby retaining the minimum state residency requirement of three years;

 

     (2)  Amending the legislative district residency requirement by requiring a candidate to be domiciled in, rather than reside in, the legislative district that the candidate seeks to represent; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2218, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2218, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

		____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair