STAND. COM. REP. NO. 411-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: H.B. No. 1862
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1862 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to create a civil action to require the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) to enforce support orders and comply with state and federal laws regarding disbursement of collected funds and notification pertaining to the status of child support accounts, and to allow for reasonable attorney's fees and costs if the action is successful.
The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii testified in support of this bill. The Department of the Attorney General opposed this measure.
Concerns were raised regarding:
(1) CSEA's long history of poor performance, resulting in extreme frustration among the affected populace, a state-court lawsuit against the agency, and the loss of federal funds;
(2) The provision of costs and attorney's fees to prevailing parties; and
(3) The vagueness and ambiguity of the proposed requirements that CSEA "properly" enforce support orders and that claimants "substantially" prevail in actions against CSEA before recovering attorney's fees and litigation costs.
Your Committee finds that:
(1) The civil action created in this bill is subject to chapter 661, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS);
(2) The words "properly" and "substantially" are not clearly defined in this bill, which may result in inconsistent or improper interpretations of those terms; and
(3) The costs and attorney's fees provisions may detract from the intended use for the court action created by this measure.
Your Committee has amended this bill by:
(1) Clarifying that the action created by this bill is subject to chapter 661, HRS;
(2) Deleting the adverb "properly" as too vague a standard by which CSEA shall enforce support orders;
(3) Removing the provision allowing for costs and attorney's fees in the section delineating CSEA liabilities to a prevailing claimant;
(4) Removing the requirement that a complainant must "substantially" prevail in a suit against CSEA to recover litigation costs;
(5) Clarifying that litigation costs may be assessed against a claimant where the charges brought were frivolous; and
(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for style and clarity.
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. 1862, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1862, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,
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____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair |
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