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Three years after the Hawaii Senate went paperless, the House hasn’t followed suit.

Why?

Because House leaders say their members will not be able to keep up and “won’t know what they’re voting on.”

“We are (going paperless) for those who choose to go paperless and we are using technology to assist them,” said House clerk Pat Mau-Shimizu. “But we are not forcing anyone — the Speaker and I made a conscious decision — because some will fall behind and won’t know what they’re voting on.”

In the House, lawmakers consume reams of paper printing copies of bills, resolutions, and testimony. House clerks use metal carts to shuttle large stacks of paper between committee rooms.

There’s a cost to the House’s reliance on paper. At a late-night Finance Committee meeting this session last week, the committee had to recess after midnight in order to make paper copies of bill amendments. One House legislator even refuses to use a laptop.

In the Senate, lawmakers would have be able to see those changes instantly on their laptops.

Senators’ laptops use a program that allows them to highlight and make notes on electronic copies of bills.

Even though the Senate has gone virtually paperless, there is no official limit on printing documents. But when it comes to a bill or resolution, senators are limited to 20 copies, according to the Senate communications office.

The Senate’s paperless initiative has saved it time and money.

Since 2008, they’ve reduced the amount of paper they use by nearly 80 percent and saved $500,000. The Senate from 9,798,456 pages weighing 19.6 tons to 1,543,053 pages weighing 3.09 tons in two years.

“At the same time, public access to Senate activities has grown substantially because of our increased use of electronic means of communication. We definitely will continue to pursue and grow the paperless initiative,” Sen. David Ige said in a statement.

A representative from the National Conference of State Legislatures said about a dozen legislatures have implemented paperless initiatives. Connecticut’s legislature even convened a task force in 2010 to weigh the of going paperless. Lawmakers there are voting on the initiative this year.

Paper-Optional House

The House’s dependence on paper sometimes clogs the public hearing process.
At the Senate, testimony is almost always available online before a hearing starts. When it comes to the House, the public often has to wait hours after a hearing for testimony to be put online. Most House lawmakers don’t see testimony until paper copies are printed and distributed at meetings.

Mau-Shimizu, the House clerk, said that she and Speaker Calvin Say purposefully made a decision not to make the House paperless. But representatives can choose to go paperless, she said.

At the beginning of each session, representatives receive a paper asking them which documents they want to received hard copies of. Lawmakers may opt for some or all of the documents to be printed.

Mau-Shimizu said the amount of money the House spends on paper each session varies, but she could not provide an estimate.

Invoices for January and February of this year show the House spent a total of $22,000 on paper, Mau-Shimizu said. During the same period last year, the House spent $20,000. Because legislators introduce bills at the beginning of the year, the House uses the most paper in those months, she said.

Mau-Shimizu said that paper helps the members understand what they’re voting on.

“During conference, at the bill deadline, a lot of people need their paper for third and final reading. They’ve got to read it. It’s very hard to read a hundred or so bills online to prepare for session floor,” she said.

Mau-Shimizu said the House follows a “different philosophy” than the Senate.

“The Speaker and I will provide the tools to get the job done. We do have laptops in the House but one member refuses to use laptops,” she said.

Rep. Clift Tsuji’s office is one that has gone at least partially paperless. He said his office uses computers and paper about half the time. Tsuji said he requests copies of “very important bills.”

Finance Committee Chair Rep. Marcus Oshiro said he prefers to use paper for urgent correspondence and for reading all major legislative documents. While Rep. Oshiro’s office accepts e-mail, an automatic reply says that because of the large numbers of e-mail he receives, his office prefers urgent messages be sent to his office — by fax.

Oshiro said he thinks legal documents should be printed on paper for better comprehension.

“By background I’m an attorney and because we’re drafting laws, words in the written format are very important,” he said.
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“Often times when we’re looking at a bill, it’s much easier to review a bill when you have a hard copy. Every single word is of importance. In my work, I tend to use hard documents when I’m making my final review,” said Oshiro.

How the Senate Cut Down Its Paper Use

Going paperless in the Senate meant making better use of existing tools — including the Capitol website and the Legislature’s internal information system, according to Senate Clerk Carol Taniguchi.

The change meant the Senate needed fewer documents for hearings and required interested parties submit only one copy of testimony. The Senate provides copies of legislative documents on CDs, which are available to the public.

Taniguchi said it saved the most money by buying less paper. Reducing the amount of printing also reduced the amount of copiers, specialized printing staff, and other related staffers the Senate needed.

Prior to the changes, Taniguchi said, “It was very labor intensive and it took a whole lot of time to print, collate, and distribute (the documents). Now there is more time to concentrate on policy and not be entangled in the paper aspect.”