STAND. COM. REP. NO.1117-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2149

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2149, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is to establish rebuttable presumptions for the court in determining whether to release information related to cases involving a missing child.

For discussion purposes, a proposed draft version of this measure was circulated at the public hearing. The proposed draft requires:

(1) Notification to a legal custodian if a child is taken into protective custody;

(2) A report to the court if no disposition, review, permanent plan, or permanent plan hearing has occurred within six months of the initial petition;

(3) An interview with the child's family in preparation of a report to the court or indication of the reasonable attempts to conduct an interview; and

(4) Written findings of clear and convincing evidence to support a conclusion by the court that a permanent plan is warranted in a child protective hearing.

Numerous individuals testified in support of the proposed draft. The Judiciary commented on the proposed measure. The Department of Human Services opposed the proposed draft.

Your Committee finds that the proposed draft will not solve all the issues raised by individuals affected by child protective actions. However, discussion should continue on ways to address perceived abuses visited upon families targeted for child protective action.

Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its substance and inserting the contents of the proposed draft. Other technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made to the proposed draft for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2149, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2149, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair