STAND. COM. REP. NO. 374

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1489

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1489 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ATTORNEY'S LIENS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the law regarding attorney's liens to provide that an attorney's liens shall attach to judgments, decrees, orders, settlements, and awards pursuant to a court order or arbitration proceeding.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Collections Law Section of the Hawaii State Bar Association.

     Your Committee finds that section 507-81, Hawaii Revised Statutes, authorizes attorney's liens on certain actions, suits, and proceeds paid in satisfaction of these items, among other things.  According to testimony submitted regarding this measure, this section was enacted pursuant to Act 49, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004, and was intended to address a double taxation issue arising from a position taken by the Internal Revenue Service.  This measure is intended to clarify this law by eliminating an arbitrary one-year deadline for filing a lien and by making other technical amendments to the law.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion.

     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. 1489, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1489, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair