STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2016

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2310

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 S.B. No. 2310 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC ABUSE PROTECTIVE ORDERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the court from granting mutual protective orders unless separate petitions are filed and reasonable notice is provided.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Domestic Violence Action Center, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, American Association of University Women of Hawaii, and Hawaii Women's Coalition.

     Your Committee finds that mutual orders of protection are protective orders issued against both parties to a dispute and are usually issued after one of the parties petitions for a protective order.  While protective orders are intended to protect a victim of abuse from imminent threat of abuse or further domestic abuse, mutual protective orders can present a variety of problems that may be contrary to the purpose of a protective order.  This measure ensures due process rights of both parties while strengthening the court's response to victims of abuse.

     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. 2310 and recommends that it pass Second Reading 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