STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1045

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 989
                                        H.D. 1
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No.
989, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE RELIEF OF CERTAIN
     PERSONS' CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE AND PROVIDING
     APPROPRIATIONS THEREFOR,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds from the
general revenues of the State of Hawaii to pay claims for
legislative relief, judgments, settlements, and miscellaneous
claims against the State.

     Your Committee finds that this bill in its present form
contains claims totaling more than $4,000,000.  The Department of
the Attorney General informed this Committee that there are an
additional five claims, totaling $143,846.63, that have been
settled since the introduction of this measure.  Your Committee
notes that there are, in addition, eight claims that, although
described in the Attorney General's testimony as being part of
the bill, are not included in this bill as received by your
Committee.

     The Department of the Attorney General informs your
Committee that it diligently advises its client agencies on how
to mitigate actions which could result in future claims of the
same type contained in this bill.  However, your Committee is not
convinced that the Department of the Attorney General and its

 
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client agencies have succeeded in modifying policies and
procedures to avoid repetition of similar claims.  Your Committee
believes that responsible mechanisms must be developed and
implemented to decrease the State's exposure to liability for
future claims.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of the Attorney General.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Including five additional claims that have been
          recently resolved;

     (2)  Including eight additional claims which the Attorney
          General testified were included in the bill but which
          were not included in the bill as received by your
          Committee;

     (3)  Adding a provision setting a six year limitation period
          for claims for legislative relief;

     (4)  Requiring the Attorney General to consult with the
          Governor prior to any settlement that is subject to
          legislative approval;

     (5)  Requiring the Attorney General to develop a policy of
          advising its client agencies as to how to prevent
          future claims based upon factors which contributed to
          the State's negligence;

     (6)  Requiring all client agencies to develop new policies
          or modify existing practices to ensure prevention of
          similar acts to those giving rise to the settlement or
          judgment;

     (7)  Providing that any client agency that fails to
          implement such policies or procedures shall use its
          department allocation to fund a future settlement; and

     (8)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 1999.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
989, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 989, H.D.
1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary,



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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