STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3039

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2418

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2418, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FUNDS USED FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Department of Education to expend previously appropriated monies to satisfy the settlement of class counsel attorney's fees related to a class action lawsuit against the State.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Department of the Attorney General, and Special Education Advisory Council.

Your Committee finds that the class action case at issue in this measure was in litigation for seven years and that settlement negotiations relating to the remedies took place over four years. The Department of Education was aware of the settlement and associated attorney fees, and planned accordingly to cover the costs associated with the case without a separate appropriation request. As a result, the monies to be allocated to the class counsel attorney's fees were included in the Department's budget request in fiscal year 2017 as a part of the Department's operating expenses. Authorization is now needed so that the monies may be expended for their intended purpose.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2418, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2418, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair