STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3285

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2095

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2095, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate supplemental funds for the Judiciary for the fiscal biennium beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2027.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Hawaiʻi True Cost Coalition, Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!, Hawaii State Bar Association, and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that cybersecurity positions are critical to strengthening the Judiciary's cybersecurity program as courts nationwide face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Existing fragmented security tools and processes across information technology divisions create gaps in coverage, including delays in deactivating user accounts after employee separations, which are vulnerabilities that cybercriminals routinely exploit. Funding two positions, an Information Security Architect and an Identity Architect, at the Judiciary will address these cybersecurity gaps by establishing a centralized security architecture, strengthening identity and access management, improving system oversight, enhancing onboarding and offboarding controls, and ensuring that new technologies are securely integrated into the Judiciary's information technology environment.

Your Committee further finds that community-based organizations partner with the Judiciary to provide essential services, including supervised visitation, domestic violence support, court-involved youth programs, and other family-focused services. However, rising costs in the State, including housing, utilities, and staff wages, strain these organizations. Without inflation-adjusted contracts, services risk disruption, longer waitlists, and reduced support for the State's residents. Appropriating funds to stabilize existing agreements will safeguard continuity of services for the State's residents navigating the judicial system.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Increasing by $188,880 the general fund appropriation for JUD601 – Administration to restore funding for an Information Security Architect position and to transfer a position count from the Computer System Special Fund to Information Technology Security Division (ITSD) general funds for an Identity Architect position;

(2) Authorizing the Judiciary to expend an unspecified amount of moneys appropriated by the measure to increase the contract price under existing contracts for services provided by community-based organizations in support of fulfilling the Judiciary's statutory mandate to individuals, families, and communities;

(3) Inserting an effective date of March 22, 2075, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure funds the construction of a new courthouse in South Kohala that reflects phase one of the project. Your Committee further notes that it is expected that additional funding will be provided in a subsequent measure to fund phase two of the project.

Your Committee additionally notes that this measure appropriates funds to allow the Judiciary to contract for private supplemental armed security services because the Department of Law Enforcement has consistently struggled to staff "patrol" positions at public entrances and key fixed locations within Judiciary facilities, usually due to vacant positions and sometimes due to leave, training, or the performance of duties outside courthouses or to support courthouse cellblocks. The appropriation to allow the Judiciary to contract for private, armed security professionals to enhance security at Judiciary facilities statewide is intended to be a temporary remedy and is not a decision to permanently outsource security services. Your Committee believes that it will be necessary to reevaluate these private security services before the beginning of the 2027-2028 fiscal year.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2095, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2095, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair