STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2692

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2873

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. 2873 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ORDERS FOR IMMEDIATE PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to address an inconsistency in statutory requirements regarding orders for immediate protection by allowing the Department of Human Services discretion when determining whether to seek an order for immediate protection of vulnerable adults.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services.

     Your Committee finds that seeking an order for immediate protection is one of the many remedial actions the Department of Human Services is authorized to take pursuant to section 346-228, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  This measure clarifies that the Department is allowed, rather than required, to seek an order for immediate protection when appropriate under the circumstances, thereby providing the Department with flexibility and discretion to appropriately address or resolve matters of abuse or prevent the further abuse of a vulnerable adult.

     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. 2873 and recommends that it pass 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