Honolulu Gov Efficiency Committee Meeting Summary: August 22, 2025
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Honolulu Committee on Government Efficiency & Customer Services - August 22, 2025
The Committee on Government Efficiency and Customer Services met on August 22, 2025, to discuss a gift acceptance resolution, a bill on farm animal control contracting, and a briefing on administrative rulemaking. Key actions included advancing a bill to contract a farm animal control contractor and clarifying the rulemaking process under state law.
Items Considered
- Resolution 25-232 (Gift Acceptance for Driver’s License System Test Travel) – Accepted as routine.
- Agenda Item #2 (Resolution 25-226) – Canceled; postponed to a future date.
- Bill 5 (2025) – Repeals and replaces poundmaster provisions, establishing a farm animal control contractor framework.
- Informational Briefing – Overview of the rulemaking process under HRS Chapter 91.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No testifiers registered or appeared for any agenda item.
Discussion Items
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Bill 5 (2025):
- Director Kim Hashiro reported that last fiscal year’s $100,000 budget for a poundmaster contractor resulted in only one proposal (around $15,500 per incident for capture, shelter, and disposal), which was deemed too high. No funding is budgeted for fiscal 2026, but the department will start the FY27 budget cycle.
- Councilmember Tupola expressed support for the bill and committed to helping disseminate future RFPs to the Cattleman’s Association.
- Councilmember Wire inquired about liability and legal timeframes for holding stray animals. Director Hashiro stated the expectation is return within five days.
- A verbal amendment was adopted to change the bill’s language from "the city" to "the Department of Customer Services or another department designated by the mayor."
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Rulemaking Briefing:
- Managing Director Mike Formby and Corporation Counsel Dana Viola explained that HRS Chapter 91 governs rulemaking; rules are not required if an ordinance is sufficiently specific, even if it says "shall."
- Chair Dos Santos Tam noted 36 instances of rulemaking authority in city ordinances, with nine lacking adopted rules despite using "shall." Corporation Counsel Viola indicated that changing "shall" to "may" would be a cleanup but is not legally necessary.
- Councilmember Wire asked about the preference for specificity in ordinances versus rulemaking. Viola explained that more detail in ordinances makes changes slower, while rulemaking is more flexible but still requires a public process.
- Councilmember Cordero asked about the speed of rule updates for new programs. Viola confirmed the process takes the same time as initial rule adoption, with a notification period and public hearing.
- Councilmember Nishimoto asked about periodic review of old rules (e.g., from the 1980s). Viola said departments are expected to update rules when processes change, but there is no formal regular review requirement.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 25-232 was reported out for adoption without objection.
- Bill 5 (2025) was amended to a CD1 (including a verbal amendment changing the responsible entity) and reported out for passage on second reading and scheduling of a public hearing, all without objection.
- The informational briefing on rulemaking concluded with no formal action.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha and good afternoon, everyone. It's Thursday, August 21st, 2025. The time is now 2 32 p.m. I call the Committee on Government Efficiency and Customer Services, the government efficiency and customer services to order. I'd like to welcome committee members here in the chamber, committee members Cordero, Nishimoto, and Wire. And I'd also like to welcome Councilmember Tupola to our chambers today. Pursuance to Section 92-3.7 Hawaii revised statutes. This meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting pursuant by interactive conference technology with the following procedures in effect for the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda in two ways in person in the council chamber and remotely. Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed when each agenda item is taken up and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item. As both English and Hawaiian are the official languages of the state of Hawaii. Pursuant to Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and Section 1 13 of the Hawaii revised statutes. Members of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in Olelo Hawaii, additional time as may be necessary will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. All persons who have registered to testify in person will be called upon first. When your name is called, please come up to the testifier podium and state your name for the record. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to testify following the registered testifiers. After in-person testimony is concluded, I'll proceed to remote testimony via video conference or phone. When I call your name or the last three digits of your phone number, please unmute unmute your audio or press star six when prompted. What your vice statute section 92-3.7 requires that all votes at remote meeting be conducted by roll call unless unanimous. Therefore, I'll first call for objections and if there are any, I'll call for roll call vote. Written testimonies, including the test fires address, email address, and phone number, will be available to the public as described in the posted agenda. As a courtesy, please turn off or silence all cell phones for the duration of this meeting. Thank you. And members please note that resolution 25-226, which is item number two on the agenda, has been canceled. The committee will not engage in discussion or take public testimony on this item today. We'll bring it up at a future time. Thank you for your understanding. We'll begin with agenda item number one. This is resolution 25 232. This resolution accepts a gift to the city from Thales DIS USA Incorporated, valued at $3,000 of travel, hotel accommodations, meals, and related expenses for representatives of the Department of Customer Services to attend the factory acceptance testing for the upgraded driver's license and state ID card production system project from September 15th to 19th, 2025 in Austin, Texas. We have with us Kimberly Ashiro, Director of the Department of Customer Services. Hi, good afternoon, Chair Dos Santos Tam, Vice Chair Wire and members. Kim Hashiro, Director for the Department of Customer Services. And that they also understand how the processing is is going to occur because there will be some changes and streamlining with the new system. Okay, members, any questions. Okay. Seeing as there are no questions, we'll proceed with in-person testimony and also remote testimony. Clerks, do we have anyone registered either in person or online or standing by, either here in person or online to testify? Sure, there are none. Okay, there being none, members, we are in discussion. Any discussion on this item. Okay, seeing none, the chair recommends a resolution 25-232 be reported out for adoption. Any objections, reservations. Hearing none, so ordered. As agenda item number two was canceled, we're going to move on to agenda item number three, which is Bill 5, 2025. This bill repeals Article 4 and Chapter 3 of the revised ordinances of Honolulu 2021 related to Poundmasters and adds a new Article 4 to address the duties and functions of a farm animal control contractor. Members, we do have a posted CD1 to the bill identified as OCS 2025-0652 slash eight slash 13 slash 2025 through 38 p.m. And a summary of the amendments was also posted. Councilmember Tupola, I don't know if you have any comments as a co-introducer of this bill.
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