STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2252

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2025

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 Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2025 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO JURY DUTY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow actively practicing advanced practice registered nurses to claim exemption from service as a juror.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Nursing; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Disability and Communication Access Board; Hawaiʻi–American Nurses Association; Ōhiʻa Midwifery & Wellness, LLC; Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives; and nineteen individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary.

Your Committee finds that advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the State have full practice authority and provide essential primary and specialty care, often to elderly, disabled, pregnant, and underserved populations, and many operate independent practices with ongoing patient and financial obligations. Your Committee further finds that requiring these providers to step away from practice for jury service can disrupt access to care and impose significant hardship. Your Committee additionally finds that an exemption from jury service remains voluntary for those who wish to serve. This measure allows actively practicing APRNs to claim the same optional jury service exemption currently afforded to physicians and dentists to guarantee continuity of patient care and promote fairness in jury duty exemptions.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to include "physician assistant employed in a Federally Qualified Health Center" to the list of health care providers that may claim exemption from service as a juror; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2025, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2025, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair