A working group will help the state Bureau of Conveyances move from paper to an online system for recording real estate transactions and other documents.

The state hopes such a move will reduce a backlog in recordings and other internal problems that have plagued the bureau for years.

The working group will be led by Laura H. Thielen, interim director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and will include representatives from title insurance companies, the real estate, banking and legal communities, and the Hawai'i Government Employees Association.

The bureau is the subject of ongoing investigations by state House and Senate committees, the state attorney general's office and the state Ethics Commission.

"We believe that a well-planned transition to modernize the Bureau of Conveyances system will expedite the recording of real estate transactions and other legal documents, reduce the backlog and provide the level of timely, accurate service the public deserves," Thielen said in a statement yesterday.