STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1481

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 213

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 213 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO JURY DUTY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that jurors and prospective jurors be paid bus fare or a mileage fee for travel to and from court, whichever is higher.

Your Committee finds that jury duty is an essential component of a fair and impartial judicial system.  Current law only requires jurors and prospective jurors to be paid for mileage traveled to and from court.  Your Committee believes that requiring jurors and prospective jurors to be paid bus fare, if higher than the mileage fee, will provide equal treatment to those who cannot drive to court and ensure that jurors are drawn from all parts of the community.  Additionally, providing for payment to jurors and prospective jurors for bus fare, rather than the mileage fee, will encourage more people to use public transportation, thereby reducing traffic congestion and fossil fuel emissions.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 213, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair