STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1324-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2685

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2685, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ABUSIVE LITIGATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish judicial procedures to prevent and remedy abusive litigation.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!; Parents And Children Together; Domestic Violence Action Center; and seven individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary.

Your Committee finds that individuals who commit violence against, or otherwise abuse, their intimate partners may also use the judicial system to continue the abuse after the relationship has ended by using court proceedings to control, harass, intimidate, coerce, or impoverish the former intimate partner. Your Committee further finds that even if a lawsuit is meritless, forcing an abuse survivor to expend time, money, and emotional resources responding to the action provides a means for the abuser to assert power and control over the survivor. This measure is intended to establish judicial procedures to limit or prevent the use of litigation by an abuser to further victimize a survivor.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the definition of "abusive litigation" to comport with a defendant's right of due process by amending circumstances and case to be only those in which there would be a finding by a court that a party has committed intimate partner violence against another;

(2) Amending the crimes pursuant to which a court may find that a party has committed intimate partner violence against another to include the offense of aggravated harassment by stalking, rather than the offense of harassment;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion;

(4) Inserting a delayed effective date of January 1, 2026, for the judicial procedures to prevent and remedy abusive litigation; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2685, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2685, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair