STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1089

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 492

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 492 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 appropriate unspecified sums to the Judiciary for fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 to enter into contracts with community mediation centers for mediation services.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary; Mediation Centers of Hawaii, Inc.; Kauai Economic Opportunity Incorporated; and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that research shows that mediation and other alternative dispute resolution processes generally provide more satisfactory results that can help to resolve disputes in less time than a trial and can save on costs.  This measure allows the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution and other service providers contracted with the Judiciary to provide additional services for Hawaii residents.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage 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 H.B. No. 492, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 492, 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,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair