STAND. COM. REP. NO.926-02
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.B. No. 2039
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2039, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VISITATION,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to allow a sibling, or the sibling's representative if the sibling is a minor, to file a petition with the court for an order of reasonable visitation rights.
Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, and Hawaii Foster Youth Coalition submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Attorney General testified in opposition of this measure. The Department of Human Services and the Judiciary submitted comments.
Your Committees believe that siblings should be offered the opportunity to contact each other after being separated because of adoption or foster care. However, several testifiers preferred the approach taken in H.B. 1864, H.D. 1.
Accordingly, your Committees have replaced the contents of this bill with the substance of H.B. 1864, H.D. 1. Specifically, this bill was amended by:
(1) Removing the language that would have established a new section in the Hawaii Revised Statutes detailing the process in which a sibling would file for visitation rights and the awarding of visitation;
(2) Removing the provision that would include any individual who was a sibling prior to the termination of parental rights or prior to adoption; and
(3) Making other technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2039, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2039, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health,
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____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair |
____________________________ MICHAEL P. KAHIKINA, Chair |
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