STAND. COM. REP. NO. 583-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2600

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. 2600 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Office of the Public Defender for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) Deputy Public Defender III position.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender; The Legal Clinic; Community Alliance on Prisons; Mercado de la Raza; Maui Roots Reborn; El Pueblo en Accion Maui; Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights; Pacific Gateway Center; William S. Richardson School of Law Refugee & Immigration Clinic; ACLU of Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals.

Your Committee finds that although the Office of the Public Defender is a statewide office, the Office has no attorneys who are assigned to provide assistance to attorneys statewide in immigration matters. The Office of the Public Defender instead relies on outside agencies or from the experience or research into immigration issues provided by other attorneys to navigate the complex area of immigration law. Your Committee further finds that the funding provided by this measure allows the Office of the Public Defender to dedicate one position to focus on immigration law as it relates to the criminal cases handled by the Office's attorneys.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion.

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. 2600, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2600, 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