OFFICE OF COUNCIL SERVICES

530 South King Street Room 207, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
TEL: (808) 768-3809;   FAX: (808) 550-6149
Diane E. Hosaka, Esq., Director

The Office of Council Services provides comprehensive research and reference services

for the Council, conducts research for the enactment or consideration of legislation, and

serves in an advisory or consultative capacity to the City Council and its committees

POWERS, DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS

The 1973 Revised Charter ofthe City and County of Honolulu ("RCH") authorized the

council to establish the office of council services (OCS) to assist it in the exercise of its

legislative power (Sec. 3-1 07.7 RCH). The 1971-72 Charter Commission cited this as

one of the most important changes affecting the legislative branch of city government.

In this regard, OCS was viewed as "a necessary adjunct to and is supportive of the

policy-formulation or legislative role of the city council" and "a tool for decision making --

to assist it in analyzing the city's policies and financial programs for their effectiveness

and adequacy and in identifying alternative programs and policies and major probIems

which endanger the public interest and welfare."

OCS was created on March 19, 1973 by enactment of Ordinance 4116 (Article 3,

Chapter 4, ROH). It is charged with providing comprehensive research and reference

services for the council, conducting research for the enactment or consideration of

legislation, and serving in an advisory or consultative capacity to the council and its

committees.  The voters in the general election of November 7, 1978 further

expanded the charter functions of OCS "to represent it [the council] in court litigation

where the dispute is with the Executive Branch and where the corporation counsel may

represent the Mayor or officers of the Executive Branch."  In 1993, the council

adopted Ordinance 93-26 to designate OCS as the revisor of ordinances.

SERVICES PERFORMED

With a staff of 20 -- a director, an assistant director, five attorneys, eight analysts, one

paralegal, and four support staff-- OCS services performed the following services:

* Conducted independent research necessary for the enactment of

legislation upon the request ofthe council;

* Provided assistance to the council's standing committees by conducting

background research, gathering pertinent data, and serving as resource

persons to the committees;

* Analyzed executive branch proposals, programs, bills, and reports at the

request of the council;

* Provided legal research and advice at the request of the council;

* Prepared bills and resolutions requested by councilmembers;

* Analyzed, prepared amendments for, and monitored the execution of the

city's operating and capital budgets;

* Provided information to individual councilmembers by letter,

memorandum, personal or telephone conferences, or electronic

communication;

* Provided liaison service to the council regarding access to the city's

geographic informatiqn system (GIS);

* Served as revisor ofordinances and supervised the revision, codification,

and printing of the revised ordinances of Honolulu and maintained the

city's computerized data bases for the revised ordinances and city policy

resolutions;

* Assisted the council in fulfilling its responsibilities as a member of the

Hawaii State Association of Counties;

* Assisted the councilmembers when they functioned as trustees of

Kapiolani Park; and

* Maintained on-line communication with other municipalities through

"CounciLink" as a means of sharing information relevant to cities and

counties across the United States.

See 2008 OCS annual report