STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2511

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2458

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2458 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LEGAL SERVICES FOR LOW-INCOME IMMIGRANTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Judiciary to contract with non-profit organizations to provide legal counsel and assistance to low-income immigrants.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Office of Community Services, Office of the Public Defender, Hawai‘i Friends of Civil Rights, Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights, The Legal Clinic, InterAgency Council for Immigrants and Refugees, Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i, Pacific Gateway Center, and seven individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that immigration law is complex and not easily navigable without legal expertise. Additionally, Hawaii is experiencing a critical shortage of low-income legal service providers, which compounds many immigrants' barriers to obtaining assistance with immigration matters and their civil legal needs. A number of recent working groups have recommended increasing funding for civil legal services for Hawaii's low-income residents. Despite the significant contributions made by immigrants to the State's gross domestic product, immigration legal services remain prohibitively expensive for low- to moderate-income immigrants, which can further impact their abilities to gain employment, permanent and safe housing, and a number of other services that may include immigration matters. Statistics further indicate having legal counsel in immigration proceedings often makes a difference between whether an individual is allowed to remain safely in the United States or be deported to harmful circumstances or permanently separated from their family. Accordingly, this measure will help fill a critical gap in services for the low-income immigrant members of communities in the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a $250,000 appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting a definition of "low income" to mean a person whose family income does not exceed the federal poverty level for a family of applicable size, for purposes of qualifying for assistance;

(3) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2458, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2458, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair