CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT NO. 84

                            Honolulu, Hawaii
                                            , 2000

                            RE:   S.B. No. 2115
                                  S.D. 1
                                  H.D. 2
                                  C.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the
Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives
in S.B. No. 2115, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, entitled:  

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FALSE CLAIMS," 

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to
recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final
passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this bill is to allow for qui tam, or citizen
attorney general, lawsuits to recover against persons who submit
fraudulent claims for payment by the State.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee on Conference has
amended this bill by adding provisions from the Senate position
as follows:

     (1)  Making it a violation of the chapter for a person to
          benefit from an inadvertent false claim and fail to
          disclose it within a reasonable time after discovering
          it;

 
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     (2)  Establishing joint and several liability for violations
          committed by multiple persons;

     (3)  Limiting actions under the chapter to controversies
          involving at least $500 in the aggregate;

     (4)  Exempting claims subject to chapter 231, Hawaii Revised
          Statutes;

     (5)  Permitting dismissal of an action by a private person
          with the written consent of the court and after
          consideration of the best interests of the parties and
          the law's public purposes;

     (6)  Providing that the seal on a complaint is lifted
          whether the State decides to proceed or declines to
          proceed, once the State has given notification of its
          decision;

     (7)  Prohibiting the filing of a false claim action against
          legislators, judges, and state and county elected
          officials, if the action is based on information known
          to the State (but not just to the person alleged to
          have made the false claim) when the action was brought;

     (8)  Requiring, for a person to qualify as an "original
          source," that the person's information have prompted
          the action that led to public disclosure;

     (9)  Prohibiting the filing of a false claim action by a
          present or former State employee based upon information
          discovered during the course of employment, unless the
          State failed to act on the information after the
          employee exhausted internal procedures for reporting
          and recovering for the false claim;

     (10) Limiting to 60 days an initial stay of discovery to
          prevent interference with a civil or criminal
          investigation or case, and allowing an extension of the
          stay upon a showing that the civil or criminal case has
          been pursued and the discovery would still interfere
          with it;

     (11) Making the bill effective upon approval, but not
          retroactive;

     (12) Deleting as redundant of current law a section creating
          a special whistleblower law for whistleblower suits
          based on allegations of violations of the chapter; and

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     (13) Making technical, non-substantive amendments to conform
          the language of the bill to the substantive amendments
          listed above.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your
Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your
Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose
of S.B. No. 2115, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and
recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto
as S.B. No. 2115, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the managers:

  ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE           ON THE PART OF THE SENATE




_____________________________     _______________________________
Rep. SCOTT K. SAIKI               Sen. AVERY B. CHUMBLEY
Co-Chair                          Co-Chair



_____________________________     _______________________________
Rep. BOB NAKASONE                 Sen. MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA
Co-Chair                          Co-Chair



                                  _______________________________
                                  Sen. JONATHAN CHUN
                                  Co-Chair

 
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