STAND. COM. REP. NO. 812

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 262

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 262 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROSPECTIVE JURORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the Judiciary to determine the format of the juror qualification form and the means of its delivery and return; and

(2) Remove the requirement that the form be mailed.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary and one member of the Kauaʻi County Council.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.

Your Committee finds that existing law only allows a juror qualification form to be mailed to prospective jurors and mailed back to the courts. With advances in technology, many government agencies are leveraging technology to modernize government services and how they provide information and services to their users. This measure will provide the Judiciary with the flexibility to make strategic determinations regarding the use of appropriate and effective methods or platforms for the juror qualification form to make the process easier and more convenient for prospective jurors while also encouraging greater participation in this important civic duty.

Your Committee notes that this measure relates only to the delivery method of the juror qualification form and does not affect the contents of the questionnaire.

Your Committee also notes that the Judiciary may need to contact a juror by more than one method and more than once if the initial method of delivery proves to be unsuccessful.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Authorizing the Judiciary to contact any one juror more than once and by more than one method;

(2) Inserting an effective date of April 23, 2057, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) 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 Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 262, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 262, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair