A state House and Senate investigative committee asked the state Bureau of Conveyances yesterday to develop a timeline for greater automation at the troubled bureau, but lawmakers will not agree to let the bureau accept documents online this year.

Laura H. Thielen, the director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the bureau, had wanted the public to be able send documents to the bureau's regular registration branch via secure e-mail.

But concerns by the courts and some in the bureau's land court branch led lawmakers to reject the proposal.

Lawmakers said the bureau could devise an automation plan by January that they would consider next session.

The investigative committee released its final report on the bureau yesterday, finding that severe mismanagement hampered property recordings, led to lost state revenue, and left the bureau open to outside abuse.

The findings were identical to a preliminary report issued in January, but lawmakers have dropped a recommendation that a special master be appointed to oversee the bureau because of objections from the Lingle administration about separation of powers.

Lawmakers have recommended an advisory council to oversee changes at the bureau, including possibly merging the regular registration and land court branches, better safeguards for personal information, and possibly privatizing some bureau functions.

The bureau processes and records thousands of real estate and other documents each year and has a long documented history of dysfunction.

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), the committee's co-chair, said lawmakers want to give Thielen time to implement changes and did not want to press the special master issue with the administration.

Thielen has complained that lawmakers are stalling automation by not allowing the bureau to start this year.

But lawmakers argue that automation is only one of the issues the bureau needs to address, and some doubt whether, given the bureau's record, the bureau could accomplish it so quickly.

State Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo Hawai'i Kai), said union friction was responsible for much of the bureau's dysfunction and claimed majority Democrats failed to hold the Hawai'i Government Employees Association accountable.

The lawmakers' probe was one of three involving the bureau. The state Ethics Commission and the state Attorney General's office also had investigations. The Ethics Commission found that allegations of ethical misconduct at the bureau could not be substantiated.