STAND. COM. REP. NO. 346

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 1104
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No.
1104 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE RELIEF OF CERTAIN
     PERSONS' CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE AND PROVIDING
     APPROPRIATIONS THEREFOR,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds from the
general revenues of the State of Hawaii to satisfy claims for
legislative relief, judgments against the State, settlements, and
miscellaneous claims.

     Your Committee finds that this bill in its present form
contains forty-four claims totalling $4,086,253.97.  The
Department of the Attorney General informed this Committee that
there are an additional five claims, totalling $119,121.80, that
have been settled since the introduction of this measure.  Your
Committee further finds that these claims should be paid in order
to compensate the injured.  

     The Department of the Attorney General assures your
Committee that it diligently advises its client agencies on how
to mitigate actions which could result in future claims of the
same type contained in this bill.  However, your Committee is not
convinced that the Department of the Attorney General nor its
client agencies have succeeded in modifying policies and
procedures to avoid repetition of similar claims.  Your Committee
firmly believes that mechanisms need to be developed and

 
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implemented to decrease the State's exposure to liability for
future claims.  

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of the Attorney General.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Including five additional claims that have been
          resolved since the introduction of this measure;

     (2)  Amending section 37-77, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
          (claims for legislative relief) by providing that any
          claim submitted for consideration by the legislature
          shall be filed within five years from the date on which
          a claim for payment matured;

     (3)  Requiring the Attorney General to consult with the
          Governor prior to any settlement that is subject to
          legislative approval;

     (4)  Requiring the Attorney General to develop a policy of
          advising its client agencies as to how to prevent
          future claims based upon factors which contributed to
          the State's negligence;

     (5)  Requiring all client agencies to develop new policies
          or modify existing practices to ensure prevention of
          similar acts that gave rise to the settlement;

     (6)  Providing that any client agency who fails to implement
          such policies or procedures shall use its departmental
          allocation to fund the settlement;

     (7)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 1999; and

     (8)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     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.
1104, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1104, S.D. 1, and
be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.


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



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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