Senate Standing Committee on Government Operations

... Aloha, everybody. Welcome to the Good afternoon. Mahalo for joining us for joint hearing, GVO and our amazing friends from Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs. Amazing. Thursday, 04/02/2026, 3PM.

Conference from 25 being streamed on YouTube. If we run into any snags, we will go ahead and reconvene to discuss any business leftover. 3pm, Tuesday, 04/07/2026. This room, 225 with a public notice on the legislative website. We have a two minute limit on testimony.

We can read, and so we appreciate you expanding on it. But, I don't think we'll have that problem today. So given that, we'll go kick right into it, which is scr 178 173. Sr 173 urging all state and county agencies involved in construction procurement to implement prompt payment transparency measures and expressing appreciation to the public works division of the of DAGS for its efforts. First up is DAGS.

Stand on our testimony.

Stand strong. Love it. Okay. Next up, we have Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Hawaii. They have written in support.

We have Master Sheet Metal. They, I believe, are a subsidiary, but they wanna express their support as well. And that is Kevin Hirayama and of the first group and Cheryl Ann Shimizu of the second. We have Plumbers and Mechanical Contractors Association written in support. We also have Tim Lyons. You're on Zoom. Go ahead, sir.

Thank you, mister chairman, and chair Wakai. First of all, we wanna express our appreciation for the two of you working together to schedule this resale. I know you got a lot of other important things to do. This whole issue has to do with transparency and it has to do with retainage. Retaining is, of course, is a concept where government withholds a little bit from the prime contractor to ensure everything goes right.

In turn, the prime contractor withholds from the subcontractor. The subcontractor does not have a contract with the state. So even if they request information on the progress of that particular job or the payments, they generally will not get it because they're not a party to the contract as far as that agency is concerned. So there was this was such an issue back in 2006 that prompt payment legislation was passed And right after that, DAGS had the foresight to start a website for prompt payment.

We've attached a copy of what that does to our testimony.

But basically, this resolution is asking other agencies to follow suit. The tags the tag site helps tremendously with subcontractors getting paid in a timely manner, but other agencies have not adopted it at all. So we're just trying to encourage them to do so. And thank you for your your time.

No. Thank you for being here and testify via Zoom, Tim. Next up, we have Electrical Contractors Association in support. We have Hawaii Architecture Metals written in support. Individual Lisa Kim, she is in support.

We have Leighton from IBEW local 1186. They have written in support. And then we also have Leighton from Ryan Takahashi of the Hawaii Electricians Market Enhancement Program. I believe that's all we have on the resolutions. Is there anybody in the audience wishing to testify?

Seeing none, members, are there any questions? Seeing none, you wanna just roll right into it?

Let's go.

Recommendation, we go as is. Since there's all testimony support and nobody seemed to ask for any amendments. Sounds like a plan?

Sounds great.

Okay, great. Sounds good. Okay. Recommendation on these two Rezos 178173 is as is aye vote yes.

[Roll Call]

K. Thank you, everybody. That concludes the joint hearing. Oh, no. Well, sorry. Woah. So you sorry. My good friends from EIG. How dare I? My liege. How dare I? Oh, my liege. Forgive my friends and forgive please, EIG. Okay.

EIG, we're ready to roll. Same recommendation to pass this these two resolutions as they are. Any discussion? If not, Senator Chang, I vote yes.

Chair's recommendation is to pass SCR 178 and SR 173 unamended. Chair votes yes. Vice chair votes aye. Senator DeCoite is excused. Senator Richards? Aye. Senator Fevella is excused. The recommendation is adopted.

Okay. Thank you. This does conclude. It sure does. I was curious to drop the hammer.

Okay. Bye. Hey. Welcome back to the solo GVO hearing, 04/02/202603:05pm, convene in Conference Room 225. Got the usual ten minute a two minute oh, God. Don't say ten. Two minute limit on testimony. If something happens and we're and things, take taken offline, we'll reconvene to discuss any outstanding business. And our next hearing date, whatever we believe, will be Tuesday in this room with a a notice posted on the website, but I don't foresee that anything happening. Okay.

First up, we have GM773, Paula Youngling, for a term to expire 06/30/2030, for the procurement policy board. Testifying on her behalf in support is DAGS.

Chair, Vice Chair, Keith Regan, comptroller for the State of Hawaii, Department of Accounting and General Services. You have my written testimony in support of this nomination. I think miss Youngling's, presence and addition to this board will be extremely helpful. As someone who also sits on the procurement policy board, we need people with this kind of background and experience to help us work through some of the major issues that we're trying to solve and and improve our procurement process.

So I think she would be a great addition to our team in this in this regard, and I would urge you to please, pass her out and not and and good advice and consent. So thank you.

Okay. Thank you for being here. SPO. It's a long day. It's been a real long day.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Bonnie Kahakui, Administrator State Procurement Office. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today. I'm pleased to offer strong support for Paula Youngling to the procurement policy board with more than two decades of experience in procurement, contracting, public sector leadership, along as a deep understanding of procurement law, operations, and also always displayed exceptional judgment and integrity with all facets of procurement.

Her extensive service in the state and county, including her prior role with the state procurement office, makes her exceptionally unique and uniquely qualified to be in this role.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you so much for being here and testifying. We've also received support for the nominee from University of Hawaii. I'm just gonna read it out because I don't think they're here. Director Sniffin from Department of Transportation in strong support. Andrew Kawano, City and County Honolulu, budget and fiscal services in support.

Michael Fromby, City and County Honolulu mayor's office, they are in support. Robert U, Oahu Transit Services. They are in support. Ryan Sekuda, General Contractors Association in support. We also have Richard Hensel, Lance Inouye, Lisa Maruyama, Tammy Lee, David and Chris Clark, all who've submitted testimony as individuals in support.

Also, Stephanie Leps Letro, Carrie Castle, deputy director for City County Honolulu. Budget, fiscal services, they have written in support. And finally, late from an individual, Nicole Chapman, in support. So that's all we have on the nominees. Is there anybody in the audience wishing to testify?

If not, would the nominees have to come forward? That's the last testifier. I do it a little differently. We kind of go through everybody's ears of caution than we have it. Thank you so much for being here.

We really appreciate you stepping up to serve. Quite a bit of testimony and strong support. Just a couple of questions. In your view in working with the procurement policy board, you know, this has been an ongoing discussion. Do you think there's a need for us to look at providing more teeth, for lack of a better word, to the procurement office?

To so, thank you very much, chair, vice chair, for my for consideration. So I think it's an interesting question, and I think, especially for the procurement policy board, one of the things that the policy board that does they have authority for is to audit and to monitor. Okay? And it's something I don't know how well we've explored in the past with the procurement policy board.

But if it is more teeth associated with the board itself, I think that could be looked into and to see how we can maybe leverage that if the State Procurement Office notices trends in certain areas or in certain departments.

I I know from just being in an operational standpoint, having someone maybe call you in to talk through your procurements and your, you know, the way that you're implementing, the policies, the rules, the laws, can be, humbling, right, and can, influence behavior. So, that's one thing from the start of the Board. As for the authority and abilities for the state procurement office, you know, I think there are very broad things that the state procurement office can do.

But not knowing kind of all the bad actors in the states and things like that, you know, I think that's something that definitely is worthy of discussions.

Okay. Very, very good. One of the other issues, I'm just getting your thoughts on this, is a bill moving forward that we examine the use of the word frivolous. And so what are your thoughts on that?

Yeah. I think I think it's probably a a very good idea. I think it's very I I don't know of anywhere in the law where it's defined. So kind of having something more definitized to hang your hat on when it gets down to those elements is is very important. So I think that's well considered.

Okay. Great. Members, are there any questions or the nominee yes? Yes.

No. Thank you. You have had experience both federal, state, and and county. And looking at procurement laws, they're very dense. And, you know, in order to get people to to, to follow the code, What kinds of things can you do from the policy board perspective other than just policies and rules, like training?

Or what what kinds of other things that you've seen elsewhere in your experience that we could make, we could still follow all the procurement laws, but make it easier for people to follow. And and and and you don't have to enforce as much because they're following the rules.

Absolutely. So I think the the thing that's, the best approach and one that the State Procurement Office and the Policy Board are currently engaged in is going through the Hawaii Administrative Rules right now to see where they can be cleaned up, where they can be streamlined and modernized. And so I think above any other thing that I can suggest, it's something that I haven't seen my entire time in being here and something that's been sorely needed for a very long time.

So I really commend the SPO, the Procurement Policy Board, for taking that on. It's really kind of one of the reasons that prompted me to actually consider being on the board because of the Herculean task that that's gonna be.

So I think it's a great question, and I think they're engaged in exactly what needs to happen to streamline and ensure uniformity without kind of compromising the transparency and fairness that the rules provide already.

So So in in the development, and I think you've been to these meetings already, but Yeah. How are you engaging the users of the procurement code? Because what sometimes happens is that we will do it, like, even passing laws that are very hard to execute. So are you getting any feedback from departments' users as well as those who enforce?

So, within my own, I I work for the city and county of Honolulu. And so, usually, you either myself or my deputy will attend, the procurement policy board meetings. And also some of my staff, we have one of our sections that's heavily engaged in policy, so they will provide immediate feedback on and have been really good participants, I think, in the procurement policy board.

Also, just kind of on my own, you know, I have kind of a little hooey going with our other counties, you know, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, and so we try to engage as much as possible when we see things that are coming up or different counties.

So, that's kind of what I've done just outside of being on the procurement policy board, just in day to day engagement with what's going on because it is it's such a it's such a an important thing that they're doing right now.

I think that's great in terms of having the counties more involved because we we set the standard at a state level, but we don't know what the impact is and the counties have to follow what we we we pass.

Absolutely. That's what your your Chair experience is good. No. Thank you, Senator. Really appreciate those questions.

Thank you, Ma'am.

Okay. Any other questions? If not, thank you for coming and addressing the committee. We'll be doing decision making at the end.

Thank you, Sir.

Alright. We'll move on to the next one, which is GM 749, Elizabeth Gregg. First up, we have testifying for Hawaii Police Department, Reed Mahuna, submitted written in support. We've also received testimony in support from the Maui Police Department and an individual, Corey Schafer. That's all we received for in support of the nominee.

Elizabeth, are you there?

Oh, yes.

Great. Thank you for joining us for the hearing today. Well, just a couple questions for you. You have great experience from the private sector, especially with your role with AT& T. And so, you know, on the—your thoughts and observations and, you know, on this board with given the technology issues it faces is very important.

But what are, what are your thoughts on the FirstNet program and the reauthorization? And how do you think that might play into perhaps things that the board is looking at or just generally speaking?

Well, I'm a little biased when it comes to the person that reauthorizes it.

Quite alright.

One of the things that it's very important that it gets reauthorized because we're, we just hit year nine, but we've added so many different tools and resources for first responders that that actually adopt the FirstNet solution. And part of that is, like, the customer owned and maintained cell sites that they can have their mini cell sites that they can pop up anywhere they need to, to have services available to them if a cell site is go down.

We're also a great resource for, you know, a failover for the PSAPs if their Internet would...right? So, there are a lot of reasons that the percent reauthorized, including increasing capacity, increasing coverage in areas that normally are not a site that's looked at by carriers because there's not an end of population there.

Right? So, I, I'm hoping that through...

Okay. Thank you. And then, finally, you know, one of the conversation pieces that's been going on with the 911 board has been the 911 special fund and perhaps needing to raise the ceiling for the fund. Do you have any thoughts on the 911 special fund in so far as that goes?

So, I know that we have the, the ceiling raised. I believe it was the last year. But I do think the situation that we should be aware of, in case we have some large projects coming through. Because right now, we're working through the move to next generation. Right? A lot of costs associated with that when you're looking to procure the the services and the equipment to better equip our, PSAPs.

Okay. Thank you. Members, are there any questions? Senator Moriwaki, please go ahead.

Just to build on the chair's question. So, on the special fund, we, I know that it builds up and there's a lot of money in there. How, how are, how are, how does the—how does the board look at that so that there is integration or consolidation or sharing of resources across the counties?

Because is, is it that you're all divvied up and you just get your your share and you just do whatever you do for your county, or is there any kind of connectivity, statewide, you, you know? You've been on the board, yeah, already, so.

I've been, yeah. And so, currently, the counties all manage their own services, but a lot of what we're—what we find is, is that as one county finds a solution, if it's beneficial, then they share that knowledge, right, with the other counties. And the big pieces is trying to see if there are resources that can be reutilized. Obviously, cost savings are very much a forefront of the mind set for the board.

And so, it's one of those pieces, it's a little difficult to maneuver at times just because of the fact that each county is their own entity and, every, you know, they all run a little different than the others.

Right? When no one follows the same cookie cutter, per se.

So, how are the funds allocated across the counties then? Do you all have, like, a portion of what comes in each year? Or how do you—or do you just submit what you need and the board approves it or doesn't approve it? How, how does that work?

So, so, I don't work for the county. I work for AT&T. So, I, I—from a county perspective, what I see is on the board, they do submit what they...for their different PSAPs. Right? So, each, dependent upon where each PSAP is in their build out or their renew of equipment, because you may all be on a different end of life for the existing equipment.

So, they ask this point specific to each PSAP. As we move to NG 911, there may be different parameters just because of the fact that we're, we're gonna be pulling in a new solution.

Okay. Thank you, chair.

You're good. Okay.

Alright. Thank you. Any questions? If not, we're gonna go ahead and we'll—gonna go to decision making at the end, Elizabeth. But thanks for being here today for testifying on your nomination.

Alright. Thank you.

Okay. Great. Okay. We'll move on to the next one on the agenda, which is sub—submitting—consideration, confirmation to the 911 board of gubernatorial nominee, Steven Courtney, for a term to expire 06/30/2029, Governor's message 783.

Testifying on behalf of the nominee is first, is Reid Mahuna, police chief for the Hawaii Police Department. They've sent communications to the committee in support. Daveline Riccadio, EMS dispatch coordinator for the Maui police department, has also submitted testimony in strong support of the nominee. That's all we have in with the nominee. Is there anybody else wishing to testify?

If not, would the nominee like to come up? Thank

you so much for being here today. We appreciate you stepping up to serve. First of all, I actually wanted to dovetail off the Senators' brief.

Well, actually, I did have a statement to read. Oh, no. Failed. Okay. Well, anyway, yeah.

Good afternoon, Chair McKelvey, Vice Chair Gabbard, and Vice Chair Moriwaki. My name, again, is Steven Courtney, and I'm seeking reappointment to the Hawaii 9-1-1 board. I currently serve as deputy director of the Department of Information Technology for the city and county of Honolulu, a role that I've held for more than five years, overseeing five divisions and nearly a 170 talented staff members. I bring information technology experience from the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and municipal government.

For the past four years, I have also been a member of the Hawaii 9-1-1 board, where I have worked closely with fellow board members to safeguard and advance our state's emergency communication system.

If reappointed, I will continue to ensure that the 9-1-1 fund is used wisely, that our PSAPs have the resources they need, and that Hawaii stays at the forefront of modern emergency communication capabilities. Thank you for your consideration and I welcome any questions.

I am deeply committed to the board's mission of delivering reliable, equitable 9-1-1 service to every resident and visitor of Hawaii. During my tenure, I have seen firsthand how the board's decisions shape community safety, from securing funding for critical public safety, x answering point upgrades, to guiding the adoption of emerging technologies.

Okay. Go ahead. You can Senator Moriwaki, you wanna. No.

I I think it's the same question I asked you. So how does the board operate in terms of allocating funds that come in? Because you have a a lot coming in every year. And so how does that work?

Okay. Well, the, the I guess, each of the counties, they will submit for funding. And, we do try to make sure that they're equitable in regards to the technology that they have. And but as you know, some counties may they may not be at the same time time as far as the equipment. So they may have equipment that may be needs to be refreshed at one year, whereas another county may have a refresh that may be needed, let's say, maybe two years away.

So in that sense, so it does change from year to year. But overall, we do try to make sure that technology wise, they're at the same level.

So is there any you have members from the technology sector where you're looking at how do we upgrade our equipment so that, you know, if, for example, we have another not, another big disaster, that that that kind of information can be, you can get help from other other counties, and at least information is going back and forth on those who need, need first responder responses. That that it's we have some kind of standard across the board for all counties.

And if, for example, one county doesn't have the technology, that that would get more allocation so that they can be sort of at the same level, and we're constantly improving our equipment and our training.

Yes.

Does that is that a 911 board responsibility?

Yes. Because the main function of the board is to, maintain that fund to regards to making sure we have the funds available. The other side is the technology side to it as well to make sure, again, all the counties have the the right technology. And we try to keep track in regards to any new sort of devices, equipment that's out there. So and we'll periodically have vendors that will tell us about what sort of new new things that are out there.

And so that's how we sort of keep up with the technology. And I'm always looking at things as well. So as a just as a side note there, so there's things technology wise even like AI that's out there. So I'll try to keep track of those things. And, and and again, we will, try to make sure each county does have the most, up to date equipment.

And with, this next generation 911 that's not that really in itself will equalize the the whole system. Because once we get to that level, then all the counties will pretty much will be at at probably at the that premier level in regards to having the the standard. Because that's that's the thing right now. Not each county is at the same level as we'd like to, but with NG 911 we will get there.

So when when does that NG 911 get into play? Is is that a federal requirement, and do we have a timeline for that?

Well, our timeline is about five years. And I should say, going back, I guess, historically, because the first novel was back in the sixties, and it was the old copper lines and excellent with the landlines.

So we actually what we call the enhanced 9-1-1 is really where we're at right now because we do have some of the features of NG 9-1-1, like the location service, the numbering service, selective router, things like that that kinda gets us almost to NG 9-1-1, but we're not quite there yet.

And with the with that with NG 9-1-1, though, once we can get to that point where we can get to, to that level, and as long as they have that funding that's available to do it, again, it will get us really to that point where we will have the, the means to provide that same equitable service. So, like, say, somebody has a video that they wanna get to a dispatcher with NG 9-1-1, that will be possible.

How far are we from that? I'm getting that kind of equipment, or is that equipment available? And do you have the funding with your

Well, we we do have the, right now, we do have the funding, but we just wanna make sure we can get there. And as far as the funding, you know, we're like at about $40,000,000 and I believe something like 10,000,000 is already encumbered. So we still have like 30,000,000 that's unencumbered right now. And we we need that funded just to make sure we can get there. But I would say probably the next five years, that's something that we we could achieve.

And we're also looking at other states. We actually had them, I guess, brief us in regards to I believe it's in North Carolina. I believe they they're already at NG 9-1-1 already. And so we're we're talking to them to see how it went for them.

And it just sort of smatters of other states that are in that status, but for the most part, yeah, we do like to, again, hear what other states that have done it successfully because we don't wanna make those same mistakes as well.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay. Any other questions for the nominee? Seeing none, thank you for being here. We're gonna go ahead and finish the rest of the GMs, and then we'll go into decision making. Okay?

Thank you.

Yep. Thank you. Alright. Next up, we have 784. Is this one that's not gonna show? There's no script in there. There is.

I can see it. Gomez. Gomez. One second, everybody. Let's see. Okay. This is the problem. This is the no.

Got it. Got it. Okay. Okay. We're good.

We're good. We're good. Okay. Terrence Gomez was deemed 784 to the 911 Board. We had received communication that, unfortunately, he was not able to make it here. So, we're gonna defer this nomination hearing to a later date.

It will be time certain, but it was because of this unexpected emergency that they weren't able to join us. So, it's not to be any reflective on the nominee or the process. We're definitely gonna do the hearing, but I wanted to alert the community and everybody. That's the reason why we're not able to hear that nomination today. That being said, we'll go to 785, submitting for consideration and confirmation.

Not to the 911 board. Gubernatorial nominee, Stacy Perrer, for term to expire 06/30/2028. And first up for testifying on behalf of the nominee is Reid Mahuna again, Hawaii Police Department. He is in support with the department. Maui Police Department, Davalin Ricario again, EMS. Strong support for the nominee in writing.

We have chief of police for Kauai Police Department. They have written in strong support of the nominee, as well as Elliot Key of the Kauai Police Department, and Mark Ozaki, Deputy Chief of Police for the Kauai Police Department. A lot of strong support. And an individual, Corey Schafer, in support as well. That's all been received in support of the nominee. Anybody here wishing to testify in support of the nominee?

If not, I'd like to turn it over for the nominee. Thank you for being here. You can go ahead and say a few words about your nomination if you like, and then we'll probably have a few questions. Go ahead.

Sure. Thank you everybody for having me part be part of this process. Again, my name is Stacy Perrer. I'm a Captain with the Kauai Police Department. I oversee our support services section currently, and I was formally the sergeant in charge, prior to several promotions, in charge of our, our PSAP for approximately six years before getting promoted.

So, I'm very familiar with PSAP operations, and I'm excited to be part of the board again.

Great. Thank you so much. Sorry about that. We're just trying to get everything coordinated here. You've heard a conversation going on, especially about the PSAP and the county fundings and allocations.

You care to weigh in on that conversation at all?

Sure. Absolutely. So, on our end, you know, obviously, every year right now, we're right around budget time, and each PSAP will have to submit their budget proposal of the different things that are coming. It includes technology as well as training. And every year, we, we revisit this budget.

And allocation, it's, it's a big part of what both of the nominees had already said. Right? When we go in—so, for example, each of us have CAD systems, and it's not something that every single year you're buying a brand new CAD system. So, it is a staggered a lot of times with the different PSAPs on larger—a larger type projects.

We try not to—we try to coordinate with each other that we're all not going for the same large project all at once because technology is expensive.

Right? One of the, our largest, or moving forward, next generation 911 will be a very, very large expense. However, in what it does, it does bring us all together. Right?

So, we will be all on the same 911 system. So, in terms of what we'll be learning and what our telecommunicators will be learning, in theory, we all learn the same thing. So, in theory, if there was some sort of natural disaster and we had to support each other, we could, not necessarily from island away.

Excuse me, from being an island away, but that's the great part about bringing all the different islands together is having that multidisciplinary training with the same technology. We have different CAD systems, but our 911 system would be the same. And that's, that's been working out fairly well for us. And that is something that we're looking forward to next generation.

There's still some things we need to work out in terms of policy internally, right, making sure our people are ready for this technology that we're about to receive, because it does bring a lot of responsibilities back to our telecommunicators, and we wanna make sure that they're ready for that as well.

No. That's a really important point, Stacey. Thank you for bringing it up. The, the training and the support of personnel who are work—especially with all this information that will be sent to them theoretically.

Absolutely.

Alright. Yep. Do you have any questions? Nope? Nope.

If not, thank you so much for joining us from the beautiful island, Kauai, and appreciate you being here. We're gonna do the DM here shortly. Okay?

Sure. Absolutely. Thank you.

Okay. Great. And that concludes the hearing on all the nominees. So, we'll go ahead and take the vote at this time.

First Reg 1GM773, for Miss Paula Youngling for the procurement policy board. The recommendation of the committee is to advise and consent. Members questions, comments? If not, Vice Chair 773 advise and consent. Thumbs up.

Okay. [Roll call]. The measure's adopted.

K. Thank you much, everybody. GM749 Elizabeth Gregg, 911 board for a term to expire 06/30/2027. Very proud to recommend that we advise and consent to the nominee as well.

Just in time to vote.

Oh, just in time for your vote. Any last minute thoughts? No. Okay. With that being said, we'll go ahead and roll right into the vote on the nomination.

We will advise and consent. I vote yes.

On governor's message 749. [Roll call]. The measure is adopted.

Okay. Thank you very much. 783 consideration confirmation 9111 for mister Steven Courtney for term to expire 6/30/2029. Very happy and proud to recommend that we also advise and consent. Members, questions, comments?

If not, Vice Chair, advise and consent. I vote yes on the move. Seven 83.

[Roll call]

Senator was excused. Measure passes.

Okay. As we noted earlier, gm 784 in case anybody jumped in late, due to an unexpected emergency, we are going to postpone this hearing to another day to accommodate for this unexpected, issue. Next up, GM 75, consideration and for confirmation 911 board, Stacy Ferrera for term expired 06/30/2028. Very also happy to recommend that we advise and consent to the nominee. Members, questions?

Questions? Comments?

If not, Vice Chair. 785.

I vote yes. With members present, are there any no votes or reservations? Hearing none, the measure is adopted.

Okay. This concludes our GM hearing. Thank you so much for being here. Congratulations, you guys. We really appreciate you.

Let's take a quick Hello. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the joint hearing now between government operations and our amazing friends from public safety and military affairs. Thursday, 04/02/2026 at 03:15 PBM. Conference from 02:25.

One item on the agenda, SCR 62, requesting the 911 board establish or utilize an appropriate working group to engage with the disability community to address continuing access issue in the state's emergency and 911 response system. This is a proposed Senate draft one. To testify on the proposed Senate draft one, we have the 911 board. They have written testimony in support. We have, the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

Hey. Thank you, Chairs, Committee Members. My name is Daintry Bartoldus, executive director for the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities, and we are in strong support of this measure. We sent in a kind of a long testimony for us, but I just wanna emphasize on the second page that we've been working with the 911 board. We're going to be, there are we are on their agenda for the next coming, appointments, the next two, and they're bringing in the disability community.

And we really appreciate it. So I really thank you guys because you guys really helped get that into there and being able to be representative. That was really important. So, everything that we've had on there, Royce have already said they are going to include it and they're including us, so we're very thankful. Thank you so much for this opportunity to testify.

Thank you

for being here. Appreciate you being here in person. We have executive office on aging. They are written in support. We have Aloha Independent Living in Hawaii.

They are in support. We have Lou Ertishek from the Hawaii Disability Rights Center. Go ahead.

Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon, sir.

I think you remember the hearing that we had on the bill to establish the separate 9-1-1 the smart app for people with disabilities. And at that time, I think you and Senator Sam Buenaventura said that you would find a resolution to try to accomplish that. So I want to thank you. You are indeed a man of your work. You, you found that you found this vehicle and so we're in strong support of the resolution.

It does appear that the parties are working well together. I think this will formalize that. It is important to take into account the the needs of specific people within a disability. So, you know, what do they think needs to be included? What kind of information will be helpful?

So we think that resolution is great. So thank you again, Senator. Appreciate it.

Thank you so much. And just to clarify, it's actually myself and Senator Fukunaga who recommended that we do this resolution to show the support.

Well, thank you too, Senator Fukunaga. We really appreciate it.

He's a big fan, by the way. Right on, Lou. Thanks for being here. Happy Easter. Okay.

We also have a written from Johnny May Alperi. They are in support. Anybody in the audience wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none, members there are any questions on this resolution. And just to clarify, this resolution is our commitment to the disabled community to ensure that their issues in the bill, although did not advance, are addressed with the 911 board.

So, because of that, I'd like to recommend we just adopt it as soon. Okay? Yep. Alright. Sounds good.

Any questions or comments? If not, recommendation SCR62 is as is. I vote yes.

Senator. What?

It's an SD1. Why is it SD1?

Why is it SD1? Because it's a proposed

Oh, okay. Let me apologize. Let me pull back and redo this recommendation because we don't deal with much with proposed SD ones and resos. Because it is a proposed SD one, the recommendation is we adopted with amendments. Okay?

Alright. Seeing none, Chair SD1, I vote yes.

For GVO, Chair votes aye. Vice chair votes aye. [Roll call]. Excuse the measure passes.

Thank you, members.

Oh, for, PSM committee, same recommendation. Vice Chair Lee for the vote. I vote aye.

Voting on the CR 62. The recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll call]. Chair the recommendation's adopted.

Okay. Thank you guys for being here. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.