STAND. COM. REP. NO. 893-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2607

S.D. 1

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 Human Services and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2607, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADOPTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to protect families by preventing the adoption of a child of a Marshallese citizen within the State without prior written approval of the appropriate court of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The Department of Human Services, Kaiser Permanente, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, Ethica, and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure. A concerned individual provided comments.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Requiring relinquishment proceedings to occur in court and requiring the court to ensure that certain conditions are met;

(2) Prohibiting adoption agencies from charging fees to any adoptive family that meets the specified requirements; and

(3) Requiring the court to withhold acknowledgment of the relinquishment if the parent is in violation of any laws, or the requirements of the relinquishment proceeding have not been met.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2607, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2607, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services and Housing,

 

____________________________

MICHAEL PUAMAMO KAHIKINA, Chair