Report Title:

Civil Process Servers

 

Description:

Establishes a task force to study and make recommendations to the legislature regarding civil process server duties, credentials, training, liability and other issues. (SB683 HD1)

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

683

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 1

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to public safety.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that civil process servers play an under-appreciated role as they serve subpoenas and other court processes. The legislature finds that due to questions of identification and legitimacy, individuals encounter confusion and difficulty in serving these documents.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a task force to study and make recommendations to the legislature regarding:

(1) Civil process server duties;

(2) The proper type of credentials and identification to be issued to people performing these duties;

(3) The amount of training to be required;

(4) The potential for State liability; and

(5) Other issues.

SECTION 2. There is established a civil process server task force under the department of public safety. The task force members shall be convened by the director of public safety or the director's designee. The members of the task force shall include the chief justice of the Hawaii supreme court or his designee, the attorney general or designee, a representative from the Hawaii deputy sheriffs association, and the president of the Hawaii bar association or designee. The task force shall submit a report to the legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2002 that shall include but not be limited to findings and recommendations on the following:

(1) The appropriate roles of the uniformed deputy sheriffs, the deputy sheriffs of the civil section, and those people authorized by the judiciary to serve civil processes;

(2) The proper forms of identification to be issued for the different classes of process servers and deputy sheriffs;

(3) What training should be required of those individuals desiring to be identified as deputy sheriffs of the civil section;

(4) The most prudent way to address the concerns of liability to the State arising from the actions of process servers; and

(5) Other matters concerning the serving of civil processes that the members of the task force may identify.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.