STAND. COM. REP. NO. 817

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 1345
                                        S.D. 2




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 1345, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION IN
     THE JUDICIARY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to provide for an increase in
judicial salaries by eighteen percent over two years.

     The bill also amends judicial retirement provisions to
provide that judges entering or reentering service after June 30,
1999, without vested benefits, may retire after ten years of
credited service and having attained age fifty-five or after
twenty-five years of credited service.  The bill does not affect
the retirement of those judges who are current members of the
employees' retirement system or who are confirmed prior to the
bill's effective date.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's judges are significantly
undercompensated.  Hawaii is the only state in the nation that
has not increased the salary of its judges during the last nine
years.  Your Committee notes that since 1990, forty-four of the
remaining forty-nine states have granted their judges three or
more raises.  In 1997 alone, twenty-nine states raised the
salaries of their general trial court justices.  

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 817
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     Your Committee further finds that insufficient compensation
creates the risk that quality judges will leave the bench, thus
depriving the public of the significant value of experienced
jurists.  Since 1992, ten seasoned and experienced judges have
left Hawaii's bench due, in part, to the lack of adequate
compensation and, in recent months, another two seasoned judges
have announced their intention to leave the bench.  Your
Committee believes that an increase in judicial salaries is
necessary to ensure that the most highly qualified individuals
will be attracted to the state judiciary and will be able to
serve and continue to serve without unreasonable economic
hardship.

     Your Committee has amended the bill by changing the amounts
specified for judicial salaries in part II of the bill to
unspecified amounts and the amounts appropriated in section 8 of
the bill to unspecified amounts to facilitate continuing
discussion on this matter.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
1345, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1345, S.D.
2.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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