STAND. COM. REP. NO. 893-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2090

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. 2090 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC ABUSE ORDERS FOR PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize respondents to submit written requests, in addition to oral requests, to withhold petition records of denied temporary restraining orders or protective orders from public inspection.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary and Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Your Committee finds that victims of domestic abuse who petition the courts for temporary restraining orders or protective orders are sometimes subjected to counter-petitions for the same relief by their abusers. Your Committee further finds that retaliatory counter-petitions can negatively impact domestic abuse victims' employment and housing prospects and hinder their efforts to gain physical and financial independence from their abusers. Act 18, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020, authorized the court to withhold from public inspection the petition record of a denied temporary restraining order or protective order upon oral request. However, since petitions for temporary restraining orders are generally reviewed on an ex parte basis without a hearing, respondents may have no practical opportunity to make an oral request. Therefore, permitting requests to withhold denied petition records from public inspection to also be made in writing addresses this procedural limitation and mitigates the potential negative consequences that denied petitions may have on victims of domestic abuse.

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. 2090 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair