SSCR903

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 903

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: GOV. MSG. NO. 513

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred Governor's Message No. 513, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of:

Attorney General of the Department of the Attorney General

G.M. No. 513

DOUGLAS CHIN,

for a term to expire 12-3-2018,

begs leave to report as follows:

Your Committee reviewed the personal history, resume, and statement submitted by the nominee and finds Douglas Chin to possess the requisite qualifications to be nominated as the Attorney General of the State of Hawaii.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the nomination of Mr. Chin from the Governor; Honorable Tulsi Gabbard, member of the United States House of Representatives for the State of Hawaii; Retired Chief Judge James S. Burns, Intermediate Court of Appeals; Retired Judge Victoria S. Marks, Circuit Court of the First Circuit; Department of Transportation; Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Crime Victim Compensation Commission; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Maui; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; The Sex Abuse Treatment Center; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Ko‘olau Foundation; Hawaii Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust; Hawaii Reserves, Inc.; and one hundred fifty-nine individuals. Testimony in opposition to the nomination of Mr. Chin was submitted by Ho‘omana Pono, LLC and one individual. Comments were submitted by the Board of Directors of the Hawaii State Bar Association that the nominee was qualified based on that organization's internal criteria.

Mr. Chin graduated with honors and distinction and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Stanford University. He later received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Since 2013, he has served as a Managing Partner at Carlsmith Ball LLP, where he focused his practice in the areas of corporate operations and transactions, administrative law, civil litigation, government affairs, and mediation. He has represented developers, businesses, and individuals in land use, real property, and civil litigation matters and testified before and advocated on behalf of clients to public officials, including the Legislature and County Councils and various Commissions.

Mr. Chin has over ten years of service at the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu where he served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (1998-2004), First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (2006-2010), and Acting Prosecuting Attorney for three months in 2010. As First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, he had oversight of a law enforcement agency with two hundred fifty employees in six divisions, including one hundred six attorneys, with a $20,000,000 operating budget. He also recruited and hired attorneys to serve at the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and coordinated training for all four county prosecuting attorney offices. He also conducted and prosecuted over forty jury trials, including murder and sex assault cases, and independently coordinated efforts between police officers, investigators, detectives, victim advocates, and medical teams through the stages of a case from charging to the final verdict. In 2002, Mr. Chin received the Department's internal "Top Gun" award for winning the most jury trials that year out of over one hundred attorneys at the Department.

In 2010, Mr. Chin was appointed as Managing Director of the City and County of Honolulu, where he was responsible for overseeing all twenty-three line agencies with approximately ten thousand employees and an operating budget of $1,970,0000,000 and a capital budget of over $2,000,000,000. As Managing Director, he mediated major internal and external disputes involving the City and County of Honolulu in the areas of procurement, capital project management, permitting, sewage infrastructure, transportation and roads, emergency management, energy initiatives, and smart technology. He also served as the primary liaison between the Mayor and Honolulu City Council regarding legislative matters and was the spokesperson for the City Administration in the media as well as at public meetings. Of particular note, Mr. Chin planned and executed city operations during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in 2011.

Mr. Chin is an active legal volunteer in the community. He currently serves as a mediator for the Mediation Center of the Pacific, on the Board of Managers for the YMCA of Honolulu, as pro bono Counsel for The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, on the Advisory Board for EAH Housing Hawaii, and as a Director of the American Judicature Society in Hawaii.

Testimony in support of Mr. Chin's nomination indicates that he possesses sound knowledge of the law, strong integrity, and deep understanding of government, administration, and law enforcement agencies. His experience with the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and later as Managing Director for the City and County of Honolulu exemplify his hard work and dedication to public service. He has demonstrated the capacity to manage a large office and to quickly understand complex legal issues and to effectively address and resolve these issues. All of these traits and qualities will allow him to be a successful Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that Mr. Chin has the ability, character, and skills to serve as the Attorney General of the State of Hawaii. He understands and will be committed to carrying out the responsibilities and duties of the Attorney General in representing the interests of the people of the State of Hawaii and providing advice and counsel to all three branches of government.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

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

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair