STAND. COM. REP. NO.  308

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 1211

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1211 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY COURT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to provide parity for attorneys appointed as guardians ad litem and counsel in Family Court civil cases by:

     (1)  Increasing their fees;

     (2)  Transferring the payment and budget request functions              for these expenses from the Judiciary to the Department       of Budget and Finance (B&F); and

     (3)  Appropriating unspecified sums to both the Judiciary and      B&F.

     The Judiciary and the Family Law Section of the Hawaii State Bar Association testified in support of this bill.  B&F and a concerned individual offered comments.

     Your Committee finds that the fees for defense attorneys for indigent criminal defendants were increased through Act 86, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Deleting the provision requiring the inclusion of these        expenses into B&F's budget request;

     (2)  Deleting the unspecified appropriations to the Judiciary      and B&F; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for                    consistency.

     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. 1211, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1211, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

____________________________

TOMMY WATERS, Chair