STAND. COM. REP. NO. 228-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1528

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1528 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE VI, SECTION 3, OF THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO INCREASE THE MANDATORY RETIREMENT AGE FOR STATE JUSTICES AND JUDGES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to propose a constitutional amendment to raise the mandatory retirement age for state justices and judges from seventy years to seventy-five years.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary; Office of the Public Defender; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; Community Alliance on Prisons; and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the American Judicature Society.

Your Committee finds that many judges and justices are forced to retire from the bench at the age of seventy years old pursuant to the Hawaii State Constitution. Your Committee believes that judges and justices who are willing and able to preside over cases into their mid-seventies should be allowed to hold their office.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 H.B. No. 1528, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1528, 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