 Hey, good afternoon everybody. Thank you for joining us for another segment weekly segment of condo insider. We're so happy to have with us. Can a young who is with the legislative reference Bureau often all commonly known as LRB down at the state capital. So he's going to explain to us what the LRB and then they also have another section called public access room which is so helpful. We're in it when you're in that legislative session period, and you're looking at hearings or bills being introduced. They're so helpful down there. So, Keanu, I want to thank you and, and your and Virginia also for agreeing to be on the show today and it's a great time point because legislative session should be starting very shortly, right? Correct. So it's a great timing to get everybody in gear on how the legislative process works and how they can support all their, all their, their representatives as senators on getting bills done, or not done, whichever the case might be, but we as citizens should be participating in that legislative process. That's our, our right as us as Americans right to participate in this process. So I'm going to turn it over to Keanu, and he's going to do some intros. Thanks for having us today. Just talking about a little bit about the public access room or LRB. We are a nonpartisan service agency at the capital. We're part of the legislative branch of government in our state, along with the legislature and the offices of the auditor and LRB was established in 1943 when we were still a territory to provide research for the governor, the legislature and various departments. And then in 1972, it was transferred over to the legislative branch where we are now. There are five divisions of the legislative reference bureau. We have the research division. They introduce a lot of not introduced. They draft a lot of the bills that are introduced during session and also conduct reports that are requested by the legislature and serve as if the legislature needs something, they can help them with that. We also have the statute revision division, and they incorporate all the newly passed acts into our 14 volumes of our state's permanent law on the Hawaii rights statutes. There's the LRB systems office, and they create a lot of the reports that come out during session, including a lot of the statistics. So if people wanted to know how many bills were introduced and how many bills passed, that's actually done by the systems office. And then we have the LRB library downstairs in the capital basement, and they are a legislative library that has lots of legislative documents and some that go back to the days when Hawaii was still a kingdom. And so they're good place to go for research. The legislature's website only goes back to 1999. So if people are looking for documents that predate that, they can give the LRB library a call and talk to their research librarians and get help with that. And then the public access room, which I'm going to talk about. We are the fifth division. We're established in 1989 to improve public access to legislative information. We provide the public with necessary resources for participation in the legislative process. We are originally staffed and supported by community volunteers from public interest organizations, such as the League of Women Voters and Common Cause Hawaii. And then in 1994 part was made permanent by Act 259 as part of a permanent public access program offering year round staff and services. Then in 1996, we became a division of the legislative reference bureau. So our primary responsibility is to enhance the public's ability to participate in the legislative process. Civic participation, citizen participation is an integral part of our representative democracy. And if the public ceases to participate, then our government will cease to be a democracy. Public participation helps to ensure that our representative system of government is healthy and maintained. So a lot of people don't understand how the legislature works or how they can actually get involved with the legislature. And so that's where we come in. You know, if citizens have resources and an understanding on how to add their voices to the process, they're more likely to get involved. And so that's our role in this process. And if you knew nothing about the legislative process, you could come to the public access room and we'd be able to help you understand how bills become law, help you to focus at your advocacy efforts. So we produce lots of material, lots of informational material. We are also nonpartisan so we help people from, you know, different on different policy issues we don't get involved in politics, or the policy part of government restricting process people. And we're always happy to help so we do have an office on the fourth floor of the Capitol and room 401. But the Capitol building is closed right now. I think the legislature is looking at opening the Capitol building prior to the most recent surge in the COVID-19 numbers. So we're going to maintain, we're going to continue to be closed for now. And then I think they're going to reevaluate constant center leadership are going to reevaluate whether or not they can open in the next coming in the next few weeks or so. So we are still available via email or by phone to get a lot of calls during the day. People asking us about questions about the in the legislative process and when bills are going to start to be introduced and how they can sign up for hearing notifications and measure tracking lists. And so we're already pretty busy. People also contact us via email and we have a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter where we also put out a lot of information. So that's pretty much what we do. Prior to the pandemic, we would reach out and branch out in the fall and go take our office in our office resources out to the communities, communities across the state, including the neighbor islands. But COVID pretty, pretty much shut that part of our of our work down. So we're primarily now, you know, doing presentations via Zoom, but this also allows us to do a lot more presentations because we're in the office and we're not driving around or flying to the other parts of the state. I was on the website. And you guys have a lot of archived information too. So if someone wanted, is there a charge to get some of the PDF of archived information? So I was like, is there a charge for that? Yeah, no, there's not. And so on the, you're talking about the legislature's website, there is an archives page that goes back to 1999 where people can access documents bills. We're introduced a certain year and committee reports and testimony as you go back further to the early, you know, 2000s, not all the information is there, but I think after 2012, you know, you should be able to access a lot of those documents. There's not a fee for for that. People can access that information online. And then whatever we don't have available on the website, people can check with the LRB library or call the Hawaii State Archives, and they have should have copies of, you know, legislative documents including committee reports and testimony for certain hearings. It was very easy to navigate. And I was playing around, you know, and I was like, okay, what's here? And I was like, wow, this is really cool. It was, it was really easy to navigate and find stuff. It is, it is easy. I think it's easy for Virginia and myself because we've been using the website to find information and we're good at it. We created, we created a website guide that is really helpful. It talks about the features on the website, but it is a very user friendly website in a couple years ago. It was received an award for being the best website in the country. So it's an NCL NCSL award. So it is a good website and we always try to look for ways that we in which we can make it better. So the website is actually managed by the Senate data systems. And so, you know, we work with data systems to figure out how we can make information a little bit more accessible, or maybe, you know, have some of the features be easier to use. But so people can call us if they're having problems finding things and we'll tell them exactly where they can go. That's cool. So let's pull up the PowerPoint that shows the path of a bill. So this is something that recreated that kind of walks people through the steps on how a bill becomes law. There's certain things that have to happen for a bill to become law in the state of Hawaii and had the bill has to be introduced by a legislator during session. And in Hawaii in the state of Hawaii bills are only introduced like for a one week period at the county levels at the federal level bills are introduced year round but at the state level. It's a one week period where bills are introduced and that's usually from the opening day to about a week later so opening day is January 19 this year. Bill has to be introduced by a legislator, then it has to have three votes on the floor of each chamber at least three votes and make it through all the hearings that they are referred to so there are kind of a lot of hurdles for bills to jump through. That's why each year out of the 3000 some odd bills that are introduced only about seven to 11% or so actually become law. But that's something that we created to kind of help people understand the visual part of lawmaking. So how do people, if they wanted to, if they caught the attention of a particular bill, how do they track the path of that bill. Um, so what what if the once they find the bill if I was looking for some like a bill to keep track of identify the bill. And then I would add it to a tracking list and they can do that online and for people that are not familiar with that please feel free to give us a call or email us and we'll work through we'll work through that with you. But keep the keep track of the bill and then just the go to the bill status page and the bill status page will update every time something happens to the bill, like any new action for a lot of bills, they get introduced and they go through first reading which is you know, kind of just part of the process and nothing else happens to them. I think what happens for a lot of people is they don't understand when the bill is a lie, like, you know, whether it's in good shape or bad shape. We understand that based on the deadline that applies to it. And that is, you know, based on the number of referrals that a bill has but you know we kind of use the bill status page on the legislature's website to keep track of it. I know you can get an account or on the legislative website you would create an account, and then there's the little button on the bottom so bill tracking so you can put in all your bill numbers that you're interested in. Yes. And get those track get your email alerts, and then even committee, I mean they get your hearing alerts to right. Yeah, bills. So there's some interactive features of the website. And that allows people to submit testimony through the website which is the preferred way to submit testimony to the legislative committees. They can sign up for hearing notifications that means that if you find a bill that you want to keep track of and you want to be able to testify. If it gets scheduled for a hearing you would sign up for a hearing notification you just click the type in the bill number within that feature. And anytime that bill is scheduled for a hearing you'll get noticed and then you can also create a measure tracking list, which I do to just keep track of of a bill. You know, all the bills that you're following just because it produces a report and so it's a one stop shop kind of, you can see all the bills that you want to keep track of exactly where it is in the process. It is in the process. And so you don't have to keep going through different pages on the website you can see everything from one page. But interested in a bill and they want to submit testimony, because I know a lot of times when you get that hearing notice, I mean you have a short window to submit testimony. So I always try to people I go you need to prepare your testimony, at least a draft of it, and have it available and then when you kind of get the bill. It kind of more closer to us, you know, whatever amendments or changes, you can change your testimony accordingly but the main beat a gut of it is is already drafted you already drafted it, and you just got to kind of reread it and make small little changes, whatever, and you're ready to go so is that what you kind of recommend to a lot of people. Exactly that's actually good advice that you're giving people so what we usually tell people is when they identify bills that they're looking that they want to keep track of you know you guys are condo association bills there's a lot of those types of bills that are introduced. Once you identify the bill. And you want to you're keeping track of it you know the bill number so the first thing that we want to know is where the bill is going. Refer to and then once you find out which committee the bill is referred to you can actually draft out your testimony to that committee. Even though this is even before the bill is scheduled just so you like you said, you have it ready, because it is a short period of time to submit testimony hearing notices come in, usually about 48 hours in advance of a hearing. The Senate has any time the first time a Senate committee hears a bill, they allow you 72 hours notice but other than that is 48 hours, and then they'll ask for the testimony to come in. At least 24 hours before the hearing that and that's just so chairs and members of the committees have access to that testimony before the hearing starts. And so you may only have a day to submit testimony. That's why it's always good to prepare beforehand, you get the hearing noticed and you don't have to work as hard to submit your testimony the thing to remember is that if a bill passes out of the committee and it goes on to its next committee. You want to make sure that you're addressing that testimony to the committee that currently has it. And you know if they make any amendments to the bill like you said you want to make sure that your testimony addresses the current version of the bill. But to use the interactive functions features of the website people actually have to register, and it's just a form fill it's a pretty easy to fill form, and then once they're registered and have an account on the website. They can submit testimony through the website sign up for hearing notification, and then create measure tracking list so for everything else you don't need to have an account but to use the interactive features you have to have an account on the website. And the more you go to that legislative website the more familiar you get to it. I mean in the beginning it was kind of hard and I'm like, Okay, how do I do this again you know but the more frequent you get to it and or you use it, then the easier it is get to to maneuver. You know, I just wish that we'll be a better way to like 514b. I literally got a cut and paste everything. Yeah, that's like that's like a couple hours worth of work. You know, that's gonna be an easier way. That's all it's the statutes are listed on the website sections of statute. We have the hard copy everybody. Every legislative office has the hard copy volumes. You know, so there's ways to if you're like trying to capture a lot of statute, you know if it's a big section, it makes it a little bit more difficult but the good part is that it's online. And the session laws are all online as well so I think they just put the session laws in maybe last year the year prior prior to that you know you wouldn't be able to see what acts were passed. You know in 1974 whatever is by going to the website so that's something new that they put on and that's been very helpful for people to keep track of stuff. If you're looking for information, you know from years past. Yeah, even the ones that have passed and they're waiting governor signature now you can go to that governor's message page. Yeah, right and see that. This is pretty cool so you really can follow it from start to in between and to his final form, you know so it really makes it easier for our residents are citizens of Hawaii to really get really involved. It's not as complicated as it seemed like it used to be before. Yeah. And then the public also has a public access room so we are all Virginia and I and we have a session staffer Ashley who's working with us this session. We're always eager to help people so if you know anybody can feel free to give us a call if you're having problems navigating the website we use the reports and list page on the website. And that's because it's a really easy way to find information. You can find all the bills that are introduced resolutions that are introduced bills that made it past certain deadlines. And as you mentioned, the bills that you know the acts that you know the bills that become acts and governance messages and all kinds of information in different ways so that's a really really good page to go to and that's the page that Virginia does a lot in answering questions that people have about you know fighting bills that are making its way through the process. So I can imagine that this time of year would be pretty much like you literally get no sleep because it's so it's a fast paced at the beginning of the legislature session. It's a very fast pace. And this is don't, you know, get sleep I mean the research office, which is the office that is drafting a lot of the legislation that will be introduced. They're working kind of almost around the clock I mean, you know, at this point because there's a lot of build draft requests and so legislators and legislative staff are very very busy. And we're not actually in session yet we're little less than two weeks away from session but we're almost it's almost like we're in session already because everybody's gearing up and preparing for session so it is very busy. Even in our office you know we're getting more calls getting more requests for for presentations on bill to law or how to use the website or you know talking to communicating with legislators so so yeah we're kind of everybody's kind of gearing up for that. Wow. Wow. So I think we're running close to running out of time. Did you want to skim through to your, your PowerPoint, can we pull that up. Yeah real quick. Let's see if they can pull it up. Okay. Okay, so this is the page where you would register for an account on the legislature's website and this again this is to use the interactive functions to be able to submit testimony and request to testify remotely. Sign up for hearing notification and create measure tracking less and it's just a form fill. And then once you, you know fill out this form and you get a confirmation email and you click on that. You'll be registered and then once you're registered and you sign in those buttons on the top will turn orange and that's how you know. So you're actually in the website and as you see the red button is how you can submit click on to submit testimony and then create our sign up for hearing notification with that green button right there. So submitting testimony, you know you can upload a file, you can type your comments into the box. You can also request to testify remotely via zoom and so that request has to be made via the website. And then that button on the right was talking about this is the reports and list page and this is the page that or the tab that Virginia and I use a lot in finding information. That's where to go to find all the bills that are introduced this session. Next. And as you see they have information in various ways. So a subject search. So if you don't know the bill number, you can type in a subject and the bills that are related to your search will come up and then you can keep track of that. Go ahead. Yep. So our office where the public office public's office at the state capital. So people can, you know, use our office when are when the capital building is open. People are welcome to come up. Use the public computers for legislative research or to go on the website they can use our workspace and we have recharging devices. We have a lot of our informational material here as well. And Virginia and I are here to here to answer any questions that you may have when you walk in so please use us as a resource. There's a whole lot of people know about us, but the people that know about us use us a lot. And so this is pretty much we get we get paid to do this. So sometimes people call and they apologize and don't apologize. We're actually giving us work. We get to assist the public so and we're always happy to do to, you know, to, to help out and I mean, you know, both of us work in the legislature, prior to coming to par so, you know, we know it's not always easy to understand what happens here at the capital. So more than likely the session is going to open but the capital will still be closed. Correct. So they can really call you and you can help them navigate even the website to find some of the information that they need that they normally would go into the par room or on a normal basis they could get access into the par room. Yeah, so this is our contact information is 588-887-0478. That's the number to our office. We're also available via email at par at capital.hoi.gov. We have a we have a YouTube channel that kind of walks. A lot of our presentations are archived on that YouTube channel. We also have information on how to do different things. We have a website of lb.hoi.gov slash par. And if you have enough time to go through the website, you can be really be well versed on what happens here because we put a lot of information there. And also we're have a YouTube, sorry, Facebook page and Twitter account. So we're pretty visible out there. Again, use us as a resource. This is what we specialize in. And, you know, this is what we were created for us. So, Wow, you're pretty connected. Okay, so I think we're running close to out of time. So Keanu, I really want to thank you and Virginia for doing this condo insider for us. The administrator session opens on the 19th. We probably will be doing a email blast out to a lot of our people that we have email addresses for to kind of get them a little bit aware and then it's going to be posted onto our website. As a reminder of that process of this process and then so they don't feel intimidated or uncomfortable it's going to start to get them a little bit more. I feel like that the system is is user friendly. Right. And they really should take advantage of that. So they have their voice can be heard in this legislative process. Any closing words any. Again, it's just it's important for people to get involved, just because like I said, you know you're keeping them are democracy healthy. They don't get involved because they don't understand the process, but that's not a good enough excuse. Now that you know that we're available to help help you understand how bills become law and help you in your advocacy efforts so please feel free to give us a call or contact us via email or our social media pages and we'll be happy to assist. We're pretty eager to to help out this session. Thank you so much for being here today this afternoon and we'll see you soon. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Take care. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here today this afternoon. And we'll see you soon. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Take care.