STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3454

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2281

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2281 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SERVICE BY PUBLICATION IN PATERNITY CASES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the Uniform Parentage Act to allow for service by publication when defendants cannot be located or personally served.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Uniform Parentage Act specifies service by registered or certified mail when the defendant is not found within the circuit, but does allow for other methods of service that is provided by law or court rules.  The Family Court has authorized the Child Support Enforcement Agency of the Department of the Attorney General to serve defendants in paternity cases by publication if they cannot be located or personally served.  By codifying the Family Court's practice of allowing service by publication in paternity cases under the Uniform Parentage Act, this measure makes service consistent with service in other Family Court proceedings and helps to make the child support process more efficient.

     Your Committee notes that means of communication are evolving due to advancements in technology.  Newspapers are shifting to online editions, people are shifting from written letters to email or social media, and many people no longer have landlines and listings in telephone directories.  Thus, providing notice by publication may not sufficiently encompass all means available that are reasonably calculated to give a party actual notice of the proceedings and an opportunity to be heard.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting language suggested in written testimony to authorize the court to allow, in addition to notice by publication, notice of a paternity action and the time and date of hearing by any other manner that is reasonably calculated to give the party actual notice of the proceedings and an opportunity to be heard, including the following:

          (A)  Notice by posting to an online publication website;

          (B)  Service by electronic mail or posting to a social networking account; and

          (C)  Notice by posting to a public bulletin board; 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 H.B. No. 2281, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2281, 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,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair