Hawaii lawmakers have shelved a bill that would allow voters to have their addresses and telephone numbers removed from voter registration lists available to the public.
The Senate Judiciary Committee had passed the measure Feb. 6, but the bill was held up after county clerks and the office of elections came up with an opinion that voters could do this by submitting to officials that the release of such information would invade their privacy.
The state Office of Elections is expected to come up with rules to allow voters to keep their addresses and other information secret.
Advocates say it will make it easier for clerks to determine who can get access to addresses and phone numbers.
Opponents say it would make detecting voter registration fraud harder to detect.
In the 1982 House race, a candidate discovered that young law school supporters of his opponent were registered to vote at the Arcadia Retirement Residence. The discovery led to the conviction of Sen. Clifford Uwaine.
In 1996, a federal court judge ruled that state law allowing access to voter registration lists to political parties was unconstitutional and that the public should be entitled to see the lists.
Legislators also passed a bill that transfers the Office of Information Practices from the attorney general's office to the lieutenant governor's office.
But lawmakers also slashed the OIP budget 37 percent, some $204,000 out of a budget of $577,000.
The measure also gives OIP jurisdiction over complaints about violations of the state open meetings law and sets up an appeals process on public records.
The administration had proposed a bill that would have done away with the Office of Information Practices and set up a person in the ombudsman's office to monitor open records. Opinions would have been left up to the state attorney general and county attorneys.
Lawmakers shelved a bill that would have established an information practices officer in the ombudsman's office. It would have empowered the attorney general and county attorneys to issue opinions about government records.