STAND. COM. REP. NO. 689

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 648

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 648 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GUARDIANSHIP AND CONSERVATORSHIP SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a two-year pilot program in the Probate Court and Family Court of the First Circuit to fund certain guardianship- and conservatorship-related court resources in situations where the respondent does not have sufficient funds to pay for one or more of the resources and the court has deemed the resource or resources beneficial.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary; Executive Office on Aging; AARP Hawaii; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; and four individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of the Public Guardian and State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

Your Committee finds that many respondents in guardianship and conservatorship cases cannot afford necessary legal and evaluative services. This measure promotes enhanced equity and procedural fairness in the guardianship and conservatorship system by ensuring that vulnerable individuals, such as those with disabilities, have access to proper representation and assessments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriations to unspecified amounts;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider the following appropriation amounts:

(1) $100,000 for the provision of guardianship- and conservatorship‑related court resources in the Probate Court of the First Circuit as part of the pilot program; and

(2) $100,000 for the provision of guardianship- and conservatorship‑related court resources in the Family Court of the First Circuit as part of the pilot program.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 648, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 648, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair