MINUTES
HAWAII STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
BOARD MEETING
1132 Bishop Street, Suite 906
Honolulu, HI 96813
Thursday, February 22, 2007, 11:30 a.m.
1. CALL TO ORDER
President Jeffrey Portnoy called the meeting to order at 11:35 a.m. with a quorum present. The following persons were present for all or part of the meeting:
Officers Present
Jeffrey Portnoy
Jeffrey Sia
Robert Godbey
Hugh Jones
Directors Present
Nathan Aipa
Roxann Bulman (by phone)
Alfred Castillo
Steven Chow
Jackie Erickson
Gregory Frey
Geraldine Hasegawa
Louise Ing
Ronette Kawakami
Carol Kitaoka
Steven Songstad (by phone)
Trudy Burns Stone
Jodi Kimura Yi
Nichole Shimamoto
Board Members Absent
Janice Kim
Suzanne Terada
Others Present
Karen Clark
Rosemary Fazio
Joanne Ha’o
Catherine Levinson
Terence O’Toole (by phone)
Gary Slovin
HSBA Staff
Lyn Flanigan
Iris Ito
Debra White
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
By consensus, the minutes of the January 20th board meeting were approved.
3. TREASURER’S REPORT – By consensus, the treasurer’s report for the period ending January 31, 2007, were approved.
4. COMMITTEE/REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS
a. LRIS Committee (see agenda item 4.a.) – due to time constraints, this item did not get discussed.
b. DLSP Committee – a written report was submitted by the Delivery of Legal Service to the Public Committee (see 02/20/07 email from Ito to HSBA Board). Included as part of the committee’s report was a request for additional funding of $500 beyond the $5,000 already budgeted for the Equal Justice Conference. Due to time constraints, the Board assigned this to the Executive Committee for discussion and vote.
c. Legislation Committee (see agenda exhibit A) – Legislation Committee Chair Gary Slovin reported on pending bills.
As part of legislation, bar-elected Judicial Selection Commission member Rosemary Fazio was present to ask for the board’s support in opposing SB 948 that proposes to amend the Hawaii Constitution to reduce the JSC listing of nominees for judicial vacancies from 4 to 6 nominees to 3 nominees.
Action taken: After some discussion, a motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition in determining that this is a bill on which the Board should take a position. Another motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to support the JSC’s opposition to SB 948 for the reasons explained by the JSC. Mr. Slovin recommended that HSBA talk to Representative Tommy Waters and request more time to study the bill before taking a position.
d. Commission on Professionalism Proposal on Insurance Disclosure (see agenda item 4.d.) – Terence O’Toole briefly explained the Commission’s recommendation and asked for comments from the bar within the next 60 days. President Portnoy appointed Jeffrey Sia, Ronette Kawakami, and Trudy Burns Stone to work with Mr. O’Toole in gathering the necessary information in order to make a report at the April board meeting.
* e. Consumer Protection Committee – Consumer Protection Committee Chair Joanne Ha’o reported that the committee will present to the Board a proposed definition of the practice of law as a rule change. This issue will be placed on the agenda for a future board meeting.
5. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT – see written report included in agenda.
* Item added to the agenda.
6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Review of Committee Structures in Constitution & Bylaws and Board Policy Manual (see agenda item 6.a.) – at the January board meeting, Secretary Hugh Jones presented amendments to the Bylaws and the Policy Manual that his ad hoc committee proposed in response to concerns that some processes in practice were different from what was described in the Bylaws and Policy Manual. This item was deferred until the February meeting to allow board members more time to consider them.
Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to recommend adoption of proposed amendments to the Constitution & Bylaws, to inform members of the changes, and to adopt the proposed amendments to the Board Policy Manual.
Regarding the board’s earlier discussion of a Strategic Planning Committee for the purposes of long-range planning, President Portnoy announced that the following board members would be included on that committee: Jeffrey Sia, Nathan Aipa, Jackie Erickson, Steven Songstad, and Geraldine Hasegawa.
b. Liaison Committee between HSBA Board and Disciplinary Board (see agenda item 4.b.) – FYI only.
c. Review of Issues Raised by Finance Committee during Budget/Strategic Planning Process (see agenda item 6.c.) – Treasurer Godbey presented, as motions before the Board, items from the September 20, 2006 Finance Committee memo.
1) Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to approve the proposed policy statement that the budget be a balanced budget.
2) Action taken: A motion was made and seconded to approve the proposed policy statement that payroll, payroll taxes, and employee benefits shall not exceed 80% of dues revenues. The motion failed by a vote of 2 to 13.
3) Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried by a vote of 14 to 1 to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to approve the proposed policy statement that each cost center be identified separately including its individual costs and revenues and total profit and loss.
4) Action taken: A motion was made and seconded to approve the proposed policy statement that each cost center should at least break even. The motion failed by a vote of 6 to 9.
5) Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried by a vote of 10 to 2 to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to establish the general reserve policy at 35-45% of the operational budget.
6) Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to approve the proposed policy statement that at least 50% of the excess funds shall be deposited with Hawaii financial institutions.
7) Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to approve the proposal that the Office of Disciplinary Counsel be assessed a $2 per member collection fee and the Lawyers’ Fund and Attorneys and Judges Assistance Program be assessed a $1 per member collection fee.
8) Action taken: Deferred action on re-evaluating its fundraising procedures for the annual dinner the fundraiser committee meets.
9) Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to approve the proposal that preparation of financial information be consistent from period to period.
7. NEW BUSINESS
a. Request for Cooperation with Rule 19 Committee Evaluation
Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to adopt the Executive Committee’s recommendation to approve the request of the Judiciary’s Rule 19 Committee for email addresses of bar members in order to conduct its judicial evaluations on-line.
b. Ratification of HSBA Members on the Supreme Court Nominating Committee
Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to ratify President Portnoy’s appointment of the following individuals as the HSBA representatives on the Supreme Court Nominating Committee: Ronald Heller, Bernice Littman, Cora Lum, and Andrew Winer.
* c. IT Budget
Action taken: A motion was made, seconded, and carried without opposition to approve funding of approximately $5,000 for re-design of the HSBA website out of the IT budget, later to be taken out of reserves.
* d. Social Committee – Director Nathan Aipa announced that the first social is scheduled for April in the Dillingham Transportation Building. There was a question as to whether the first social would be funded by the HSBA. Mr. Aipa said that he would email the Board and vote upon it by email.
* e. Nationally-recognized Speaker – President Portnoy stated that he would like to have at the bar convention luncheon a nationally-recognized speaker such as Catherine Cryer, Norman Mineta, Bill Bradley, etc. It may cost about $15k-20k. He asked the board to think about it for discussion at a future meeting.
* Item added to the agenda.
8. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 1:33 p.m.
Submitted by:
Lyn Flanigan
HSBA Executive Director
Approved by:
Hugh R. Jones
HSBA Secretary