STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2410

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2072

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2072 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COURT-APPOINTED ATTORNEYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the family court to appoint counsel to indigent parents upon the filing of a petition for custody or family supervision and make every effort to do so at the first hearing attended by the parents.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Health Committee of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i and National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel.

Your Committee finds that this measure is necessary to protect the constitutional rights of parents to counsel under the due process clause of article I, section 5, of the Hawaii Constitution.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2072, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2072, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

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JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair