STAND. COM. REP. NO. 372

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 946

       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. 946 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Establish the Access to Justice Trust Fund under the Judiciary as an endowment to be administered by a nonprofit entity;

     (2)  Require investment of the principal of the Trust Fund; and

     (3)  Authorize the disbursement of interest earned from the investment of the Trust Fund to fund legal services for the poor, indigent, and other vulnerable populations.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Domestic Violence Action Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i.

     Your Committee finds that legal services providers lack adequate funding and attorneys to meet the need for affordable legal services for vulnerable populations in the State.  This measure creates the Access to Justice Trust Fund to provide funding to nonprofit legal services organizations to assist with the legal services needs of the poor, indigent, and other vulnerable populations.

     As this measure moves forward, your Committee requests that subsequent committees consider the measure's financial implications and examine the trust fund aspects of this measure. 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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. 946, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 946, 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