State lawmakers may appoint a special master to oversee the state Bureau of Conveyances and implement recommendations to improve efficiency after years of mismanagement and factionalism.

A state House and Senate committee investigating the bureau is also considering legislation to help streamline the recording of real-estate transactions and protect personal information in public documents that could be used in identity theft. The committee may also look at combining some functions at the bureau so staff is not as rigidly divided between its regular and land-court branches.

The committee, which has been investigating the bureau since May, plans to have draft recommendations available for public comment later this month and a final report to the Legislature in December.

A special master, lawmakers said yesterday, would help make sure the recommendations are followed. The concept is modeled after a special master from Colorado who was brought in by the Legislature in 1989 to help improve the state prison system.

"I really feel that a special legislative master is necessary to ensure that this does not end up being another report on the shelf," said state Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), co-chairwoman of the committee.

State Rep. Joseph Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), the other co-chairman, said he also supports the appointment of a special master.

But state Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), said the state auditor and a private consultant already have recommended procedural improvements. He called the committee's work a "sham from the start."

Hemmings says the real problem at the bureau is disgruntled unionized workers who have been at war with management.

"They're going to appoint a special master to do what they failed to do, at great expense to the taxpayers," he said of the committee.

The bureau is the subject of three investigations — by the committee, the state Attorney General's Office, and the state Ethics Commission. The committee's focus has been on mismanagement, the possible loss of state revenue because of inefficiency, and potential preferential treatment given to some title insurance companies.

Yesterday, the committee heard from what likely is its last witness under subpoena. Robert Masuda, a former deputy director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources who oversaw the bureau for two years, urged lawmakers to give the bureau enough staff and technology to fulfill its mission.

Masuda acknowledged that the department wanted the bureau to implement a private consultant's report outlining improvements, but he instead chose to concentrate on a huge backlog of unopened mail. He said he tried to get unionized workers and management to work more cooperatively, however, and was successful at reducing the number of union grievances.

"We couldn't do both," he said of reducing the backlog and following the consultant's report.

Marion Higa, the state auditor, who has been working with the committee, said her preliminary findings are that the bureau has had poor management and significant gaps in leadership over the past few years because the registrar and a key deputy have either been on leave or reassigned. She said a lack of contracts and other records makes it difficult to know how much the state is losing in uncollected document-access fees.

"There has been very poor management of this entity, and it goes back some time," Higa said.

Higa said allegations of preferential treatment appear to be mostly hearsay or "urban legend," although, she said, it was peculiar that certain names and firms were frequently mentioned as having influence at the bureau.

Higa also told lawmakers that it has been difficult for her to document overtime costs and other issues at the bureau because, she said, the department has not provided access to all the information her staff has requested. She said the department has cited attorney-client privilege in some instances.

Laura H. Thielen, the department's director, said in an interview that she is willing to cooperate with the committee's requests for information but has asked Higa to route the questions through her office. She said the issue of attorney-client privilege came up in the context of department e-mails that may have been related to ongoing lawsuits.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.