STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1424

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 290

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 290, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the operating and capital improvement costs of the Judiciary for fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary; Mayor of the County of Hawai‘i; Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Hawai‘i; County of Hawai‘i, Department of Research and Development; Queen Lili‘uokalani Trust; Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i; Pacific Resource Partnership; and six individuals.  Your Committees received comments from the West Hawaii Bar Association; President of the West Hawaii Bar Association; and four individuals.

Your Committees approve $341,556 in general funds in fiscal year 2015-2016 and $689,797 in general funds in fiscal year 2016-2017 for the scheduled pay increase for judges as recommended by the 2013 Commission on Salaries.

Your Committees approve positions and funding that support the specialty courts of the Judiciary, including:

     (1)  1.00 position and $105,100 in general funds in fiscal year 2015-2016 and $124,914 in general funds in fiscal year 2016-2017 for Mental Health Court to continue to provide services to a vulnerable population;

     (2)  9.00 positions and $50,934 in general funds in fiscal year 2015-2016 and $96,168 in general funds in fiscal year 2016-2017 for Hale Ho‘omalu Juvenile Detention Facility to provide continued support for Hawaii's youth; and

     (3)  1.00 position and $67,323 in general funds in fiscal year 2015-2016 and $106,116 in general funds in fiscal year 2016-2017 for the Veterans Court to supplant federal grant money, which is ending.

Further, in support of recapitalizing existing operations throughout the Judiciary, your Committees approve positions and funding that address needs in various circuits, including contract security on Maui, a new family court judge on Kauai, and overall administration of the Judiciary.

     Your Committees approve $55,000,000 in fiscal year 2015-2016 for the new judiciary complex in Kona.  With respect to this project, your Committees have included a proviso requiring this appropriation, and the $35,000,000 appropriation in 2014, to lapse on June 30, 2016, unless the entire $90,000,000 total amount appropriated is encumbered by that date.

Your Committees also approve $3,000,000 for plans, design, construction, and equipment for general upgrades and improvements in each fiscal year of the 2015-2017 biennium.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 290, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 290, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair