STAND. COM. REP. NO.2954

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2311

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2311, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO JUDGES FOR THE CIRCUIT COURT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase the number of judges in the second and third circuits from three to four.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Judiciary.

The second judicial circuit has only two Circuit Court judges to serve the entire circuit, which is comprised of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. Your Committee finds that in the ten years since the last judgeship was granted to the second judicial circuit, the population of this tri-island county has expanded by twenty per cent and, concomitantly, the number of court cases and their complexity have increased significantly. This situation has resulted in additional overtime work for the existing judges, with a corresponding increase in the overtime cost for court staff, and an increase in the cost of per diem judges.

Your Committee further finds that the third judicial circuit, which serves the entire county of Hawaii, will be home to the impending Drug Court. To ensure the success of the Big Island Drug Court, an additional circuit-level judge will be necessary to handle the judicial processes of the court full-time.

Your Committee notes that the funds for these additional judgeships are currently in the Judiciary's budget request, and that this measure is needed to authorize the appointments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting S.B. No. 2634, S.D. 1, an identical measure which makes a punctuation change in the section title.

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 H.B. No. 2311, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2311, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair