STAND. COM. REP. NO.  740

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 681

      H.D. 2

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. 681, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to encourage and enable attorneys to serve the low-income community and practice public interest law by establishing the William S. Richardson School of Law Public Interest Law Loan Repayment Program at the University of Hawaii (UH) for eligible, licensed attorneys who practice public interest law in Hawaii.

     The Attorney General, Office of the Public Defender, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, Advocates for Public Interest Law, The League of Women Voters of Hawaii, William S. Richardson Loan Repayment Assistance Program Committee, and numerous concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Providing that the administrator shall, in determining the applicant's commitment to public interest law, consider the applicant's need for financial aid while attending law school, to determine the priority and amount of loan repayment assistance;

     (2)  Changing the appropriation amounts to unspecified sums;

     (3)  Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     Your Committee notes that employment by a government agency would not in itself qualify an individual as working for a public interest law organization for the purposes of the proposed loan repayment program. 

     In addition, your Committee also notes that this measure relates only to the William S. Richardson School of Law at UH; therefore, persons who have attended law school outside of Hawaii but who practice law at a qualifying public interest law organization in the state fall beyond the scope of this measure.

     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. 681, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 681, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

TOMMY WATERS, Chair