STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2412

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2858

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. 2858 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD VISITATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow grandparents of a minor child to be awarded reasonable visitation rights when the child's parent is unable to exercise parental visitation.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Grandparents Rights Hawaii Campaign and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that a close relationship between grandparents and grandchildren can be mutually beneficial for the health and well-being of both parties. Grandparents, whose parenting and intense work commitments have usually passed, can offer the time and undivided attention that can be challenging for busy parents. Through interaction with grandparents, children gain a sense of history and a vital connection to the past, while learning that they can love and depend upon someone other than their parents. Correspondingly, interaction with grandchildren encourages many grandparents to remain active, educate themselves on important issues to children, and protect their own health.

In those instances where a child's parent dies, is in a coma, is incarcerated, or is otherwise unable to visit with the child, the child should not be deprived of the affection, history, or affinity of that parent's family.

Thus in those limited instances, your Committee finds that it is in the best interest of the child to have grandparents visit.

Your Committee further finds that many grandparents in Hawaii desire to maintain their relationship with or assist in caring for their minor grandchildren when their child who is a parent of the minor, cannot otherwise provide the necessary care for various reasons, including death and incarceration. This measure will allow grandparents to petition for and be awarded reasonable grandparent visitation rights in such circumstances, while preserving the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children, by setting a rebuttable presumption that a parent's decision regarding visitation is in the best interest of the child.

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. 2858, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2858, 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