STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3043

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2090

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 S.B. No. 2090 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD CUSTODY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow licensed mental health counselors to be appointed as child custody evaluators.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that existing law authorizes certain mental health professionals with master's degree-level training to serve as child custody evaluators but does not extend this opportunity to licensed mental health counselors (LMHCs). However, LMHCs possess equivalent graduate-level education, training, and clinical expertise as their peers who are already eligible to serve as child custody evaluators. Your Committee further finds that excluding LMHCs from serving as child custody evaluators unnecessarily restricts a significant portion of the State's qualified workforce from contributing to this critical area of need. Therefore, this measure will promote more efficient court processes and support child-centered decision‑making grounded in professional mental health expertise.

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 S.B. No. 2090 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair