STAND. COM. REP. NO. 884

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 56

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 56 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO JURY SERVICE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to allow dentists to claim an exemption from jury service.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Dental Association and numerous concerned individuals.  The Judiciary submitted testimony in opposition and recommended a delayed effective date.

     Jury service is a fundamental obligation of citizenship.  Participation in the justice system promotes public confidence in the fairness of the Judiciary.  Your Committee recognizes, however, that dentists must be available to serve their patients who may experience a dental emergency, especially in remote areas where general dentists perform services that specialists provide in more populated regions.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by allowing exemption from jury service to be claimed by actively practicing dentists who:

     (1)  Are endodontists, oral surgeons, or periodontists; or

     (2)  Reside on an island with a population under 500,000.

The Judiciary's request to delay the effective date to allow sufficient time for the change in the law because of the timing of the bidding and purchase process for revised juror questionnaire forms may be addressed as this measure proceeds through the legislative process.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 56, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 56, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair