Conference Committee

Good afternoon, everyone. We are opening up our joint House and Senate conference committee. This is April 17th, 2025, our 2:00 p.m. agenda, and we're in conference room 016. We have a few items on our agenda. So if you don't mind, Chair, I'll just go to our first one and introduce our members on the Senate.

First off, is Senate Bill 88, House Draft One, relating to the Hawaii National Guard. On behalf of the Senate, Senator Elefante as Chair. Co-Chair, Senator Kanuha and Fukunaga and Senator Wakai, and DeCorte, our members.

Good afternoon, Chair. I'll introduce conferees. On my side, we have myself, Co-Chair Lamosao, Representative Iwamoto, Representative Morikawa, and Representative Souza.

Okay, so I believe on this one we have circulated a proposed CD1 to you. I think for this one it was just taking in the effective date on this. But this also has WAM and finance. So we still need approval from that. Is that your understanding?

Yes.

Okay, so if you're okay with this, how about we roll over till Monday, April 21st, 2025, at 1:30 p.m., and here in room 16.

Thank you.

Okay. You're welcome. Thank you. And then next up is Senate Bill 1377, Senate Draft 2, House Draft 1. This is relating to veteran cemeteries. On behalf of the Senate, myself as Chair, Senator Elefante as Chair. Co-Chairs Senator Hashimoto and Wakai, and Senator Fevella as a Member.

And for the House we have myself and Representative Lamosao as Co-Chair. Representatives Iwamoto, Morikawa, and Shimizu, all who are present here for managers.

Okay, thank you. So I believe on this one it's just the difference in the language. I believe we've also have circulated a proposed conference draft. And then on the date, we'd have to make the date effective. But we also need WAM and Finance approval for this. So is that your understanding, Chair?

Yes.

Okay, so with that, how about we roll over till Monday, April 21, 2025 at 1:30pm In Conference Room 16?

Sure. That's trust.

Okay, thank you. And then I'll turn it over to you on the last one.

Sure. And on our last one, House Bill 433, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 1 relating to public safety. This is an appropriation bill for reentry services. On my side, myself and Representative...as Co-Chair. Representatives Kapella, Morikawa, and Shimizu who are present.

On behalf of the Senate, my—Senator—Elefante as Chair, Co-Chair Senator Kanuha, and Senator Rhoades and DeCorte are Members.

My understanding, Senator, is on this one, it's an appropriation. We are waiting for the budget to close. There is a reporting addition to your Senate Draft 1, which we are amenable to. So, we will circulate drafts that both reflect a blank appropriation if, if it doesn't make it into the budget, and then one that has no appropriation but the reporting, and then that will just kind of be in abeyance as we wait for conference to move forward.

Yep. And that works with us.

So, with that, if we can move this one and also roll this one over to Monday, April 21st, 2025, 1:30 PM in this room.

Yep. Room 16. That works with us. There being no further business, we're adjourned.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Will the joint House and Senate Conference Committee please come to order? Today is April 17th, 2025. This is our 3:30 p.m. agenda. We're in conference room 16. Welcome to the members of the House. And on our agend,a today is one item, which is Senate Bill 1452, Senate Draft One, House Draft Two, relating to the Uniform Controlled Substance Act.

Oh, yes, I'm gonna go through that right now. So on behalf of the Senate is myself, Senator Elefante, as chair, co-chair, Senator Gabbard, Senator Fukunaga as a member, and Senator DeCorte.

Sorry, Chair, should we introduce.

Thank you. And on behalf of the. And on behalf of the Senate, myself as co-chair, Fellow co-chair, Representative Poepoe, and manager Representative Alcos. By the way, this is our very first conference of, for me, at least, of 2025. So, thank you.

Awesome. And happy to work with you as we, you know, work in the community together on this. So, Chair, I believe we have an agreement. We're agreeable to your House version, and we just need to effect the defective date. So if you're.

Okay, if we agree to your House version, and then we put an effective date of July 12, 2025, and being that there's no finance or WAM, I believe that we could vote on that proposed CD here today.

Yes. And that is acceptable to Llessons.

Okay, we have quorum on our end. You folks have quorum. Okay. So if you don't mind, Chair, I'll go ahead and take the vote on this. Okay, so this is for Senate Bill 1452, Senate Draft One, House Draft Two, relating to the Uniform Controlled Substance Act. Do you folks have to read the description?

I know some. We are required to. But if you would, I'll defer to you.

Give me one moment.

Okay, again, this is the Uniform Controlled Substance Act, Federal Controlled Substances Act description is updates Chapter 329 HRS. To make it consistent with amendments in the Federal Controlled Substances Act as required under Section 329-11 HRS. And as we just discussed earlier on the proposed CD1 draft. And thank you for your hard work on this, Chair.

So with that, I will be taking the vote. So for the Senate Chair, I vote aye. Senator Co-Chair Gabbard.

Aye.

Member Fukunaga.

Aye.

And Senator DeCorte is excused. May I take the vote for the House?

Absolutely. Same recommendation for House conferees.

Aye.

And Member Alcos.

Aye.

Okay. Chair Takayama.

Co-Chair Poepoe.

Aye.

Okay, Mr. Chair, we have a bill.

Congratulations.

One for one. All right. There being no further business, we're adjourned.

Okay, we're going to reconvene the Conference Committee on House Bill 300, HD 1, SD 1, relating to the state budget. [Roll Call]

For the Senate...Members.

Okay I'm gonna do that next time. Okay. You can always kind of tell when if we're gonna vote because when I was doing CIP, the CIP and Osakai don't show up, so. Anyway, yeah, we're moving along, and I think we have some more agrees that we're going to go on to read off. It's going okay.

Oh, okay. Sorry. That was my cue. Okay for AGR, program ID AGR 122 sequence—page 3, sequence 2100-001, Senate.

Okay, for AGS, AGS 111, on page 28, sequence 2102-001, Senate. AGS 131 on page 29, 30-001, House. Same program ID, on page 29, 31-001, House. Same program ID, Page 30, 104-001, Senate. Same ID, on page 30, 105-001, Senate. Same, same program ID, 131, on page 32, 109-00—I'm sorry, 109-103, House.

AGS 901, page 42, 30-001, House. AGS 901 on page 42, 10—sequence 101-00001, House. For BED, program ID 120, on page 65, 100-001, Senate. On BED 120, page 66 of 101-001, Senate. BED 142 on page 68, 100-001, Senate.

BED 142 on page 68, 1100-001, House. BED 142 on page 68, program sequence 2100-001, Senate. BED 144 on page 72, 70-001, House. BED 144 page 73, 101-001, House. BED 144 on page 73, sequence 102-001, House. BED 144 on Page 73, 103-001, Senate. BED 150 on page 75, 100-001, House.

BED 150 on page 75, 101-001, Senate. On BED 160 on page 60—76—4-001, House. BED 160 page 76, 100-001, this will be a House Senate adjustment sequence 3000. This will be 2100, I'm sorry, 21,600 W funds for both years.

BED 160 on page 77, 102-001, sequence 3000. 231,000 W funds in FY '26 and 60,000 W funds in FY '27. BED 170 on page 79, sequence 2100-001, Senate.

BED 170 on page 79, 2102-001, Senate. For DCCA, CCA 191, page 94, sequence 101-001 Senate. For Defense, EF 116 page 103, 100-001, Senate.

Moving on to education, EDN. EDN 100, page 116, 109-105, sequence 109-105, Senate. EDN 100, page 117, 109-108, House. EDN 100 on page 118, sequence 109-109, House. EDN 100 page 118, sequence 109-110, House. EDN 100 page 119, sequence 109-112, House. EDN 200 page 121, sequence 103-001, House. EDN 200 page 122, sequence 106-001, Senate. EDN 200 page 122, 108-001, Senate. EDN 300 page 105, 105-001, Senate. EDN 300 page 128, 109-001, Senate. EDN 407 page 134, 105-001, House.

For DHHL, HHL 625 page 120—145—sequence number 218-001, sequence 3000.

003.

Oh, 1003. Sequence 3000, one, $1,200,162 in A funds in both years. And in HMS, HMS 501 page 170, 103-001, Senate. HMS 555 page 174, 321-003, sequence 3000, 6 permanent FTE and $876,000 both years.

Okay, for DHRD. HRD 102 on page 198, sequence 109-001, this will be a House Senate adjustment sequence 3000, 391,000 A funds in FY '26 and 11—111, 250 A funds in FY '27. For the Department of Health, HDH 131 on page 203, 100-001, this be a House Senate Adjustment Sequence 3000, 1 permanent position—1 permanent FTE, 109,800 in both years.

HDH 131 on page 203, sequence 101-001...this will be also a House Senate adjustment, sequence 3000, 1 permanent FTE, 175,000 FY '27. Oh, got the next page. On page 10—of same—HTH 131 on page 204, 102-001, House. HTH 590 on page 229, 22-001, House. HTH 590 on page 227, 22-002, House.

HDH 7, 710, this is a sequence 3000, 3100-001, House Senate adjustment, 1 permanent position, 1 permanent FTE, $71,016 in both years.

For Department of Law enforcement, Law 503 page 248, sequence number 2040-001, Senate. Same program ID, page 249 sequence 2016-001, Senate. Law 505 page 256, sequence number 2100-001, Senate. Law 900 page 259, sequence number 2102-001, Senate.

Same program ID, page 259, sequence number 2103-001, Senate. And Law 901 page 6—page 262—sequence number 2070-001, Senate.

Moving on to LNR. LNR—LNR 401—on page 275, 30-001, House.

LNR 404 on page 282, 102-001, House. LNR 404 on page 282, 103-001, House. LNR 404 on page 283, 104-001, House adjustment for sequence 3000, $107,649 in fiscal year '26 and '27. LNR 405 page 285, 102-001, another house and adjustment sequence 3000, $512,875 in both years. LNR 906 page 288, 30-001, House. LNR 906 on page 289, 70-001, Senate. LNR 906 on page 292, 101-001, Senate. LNR 906, on page 293, 103-001, House.

For Department of Taxation, Tax 107, page 304, sequence number 100-001. This is a House Senate Adjustment sequence 3000, $338,150 for fiscal year '26 and $1,343,400 in fiscal year '27. Program ID, page 305, sequence number 101-001, Senate. Same program ID, page 306, sequence number 1100-001, House.

Moving on to the Department of Transportation. TRN 195 page 313, sequence 218-005, Senate. TRN 195 on page 314, 2100-001, Senate. TRN 301 on page 316, 100-001, Senate. TRN 595 on page 328, sequence number 218-003, Senate. TRN 995 on page 331, 2100-001, Senate.

TRN 995 on page 331, 2101-001, Senate.

Okay, and last but not least, UH. UOH 900 page 355, sequence number 2070-001. And despite what...says, Senate.

Thank you very much. As you can see, you know, we had the bulk of the reading, so we was doing the bulk of the work as normal. Only kidding. Okay. No, but, you know, we thank you. We actually accomplished a lot in past few days. So, I appreciate, you know, us working together well and moving along.

So, we'll, we'll continue and then we'll just reconvene. Okay, so I think we'll reconvene on Monday at 5:00 PM in this room. Thank you very much. We are adjourned.

Welcome everyone, to the conference committee hearing today. Thank you, senators, for being here. Thank you, Members of the House, for being here. This is Thursday, April 17th, 1:30pm conference room 325 here in the State Capitol. We're here for loud sound here. We're here for the purposes of discussing three measures between the House and the Senate.

May I go ahead and introduce the conferees for the first bill?

First. Okay, so first up, we have House Bill 550 HD2 SD1, relating to fireworks. On behalf of the House, Co Chairs Tarnas and Kitagawa and Members Shimizu.

Yep. Please proceed.

And on behalf of the Senate, Elefante as chair, Rhoads and Kim as co chairs, Wakai and Senator Fevella as Members.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your hard work on this. As you, as we all are aware, fireworks, illegal fireworks, are a serious concern throughout the state. And I'm grateful that we can start taking some meaningful action to reduce the number of illegal fireworks throughout the state. And this is our first one.

Thank you for your work on your senate draft. I'm okay with the senate draft one. We just need to have a clean date in there, which I think should be upon approval. Those are my thoughts.

Yep. And we're okay with that. And we did send a memo to ask for Wham and fin release on that, but we don't have.

Thank you. Yes, I have requested release from Finance as well. So while we wait for that, are you amenable to reconvening on this Measure on Monday, April 21st in room 325 at 3:30pm?

Yes, that works for us.

Okay, great. Let's do that. Thank you very much. Okay. That's the first measure.

Excuse me, chair, what was the time again?

We will reconvene at 3:30 p.m. here in conference room 325 on Monday.

Thank you.

Okay. Okay, let's move to the next measure. House Bill 1045, House Draft One. Senate Draft One. Making emergency appropriations for law enforcement personnel costs. On behalf of the House, we have co-chairs Tarnas and Kitagawa, and Shimizu as member.

Great. Thank you very much. Let's move on to the final measure on our agenda, Senate Bill, oh, I will leave that to our lead chair for the Senate since it's a Senate Bill, Senator Wakai.

And on behalf of the Senate, Senator Elefante as Chair, Co-Chair Senator Moriwaki, and members Fukunaga and DeCorte.

Thank you. This is an important measure because we're needing to make sure we appropriate the sufficient funds to pay fringe benefits for the sheriffs who have done work for judiciary and Department of Accounting and General Services that we had not appropriated previously. So this measure is an important one to move forward.

I suggest that we could prepare a thank you for your work on this in the Senate. And I think if we were to prepare a CD1 with effective date upon approval, then I think that's the best path forward. Does that sound good to you?

Yep, that works with us.

Okay. And so we have requested approval from the Finance Committee to release this for our vote, but I have not gotten any approval yet.

Yep. And same with on the Senate side as well.

Okay. So if it's okay with you, let us reconvene on Monday April 21st here in room 325 at 3:30 for further consideration of this measure.

Yes, that works with us Chair.

Senator Wakai.

You are doing so well Representative.The next and last measure on this agenda is Senate Bill 601 SD1 relating to law enforcement. On behalf of the Senate myself is Chair Rhodes, Elefante, co Chairs Fukunaga and Favella as Members.

Thank you. On behalf of the House we have myself as Chair and Members Perruso and Garcia as Members.

I really enjoyed working with you on this measure. I wish we had more bills to work on together. And I just wanted to say thank thank you because this is a measure where it's about good democracy.

An individual came to us with a situation where unfortunately his house was searched but it was kind of an oops, by the police officers and then he just came home to a house that was upside down not knowing what in the world happened.

And this bill will allow for it continuing to allow law enforcement as needed to have search list warrantless searches but that if when they do leave the premises that they just let the homeowner, the property owner know why they were there if there's follow up, if there needs to be a police report and just having someone for the individual to contact, that's all that this does and provides that level of ability for the property owner to just find out what took place on his or her property property.

So I appreciate the fact that the House has made really good amendments to say that basically they're going to close the door behind them and not just leave the door open after they turn someone's home upside down. So we'd like to take your amendments and ask that we have this bill effective into law upon approval.

Thank you very much Senator. I agree with you. This is a a very important bill. I want to acknowledge the Advocates who have moved this forward all these years to address this.

And so having gone through what was a very disturbing experience, you've taken the advocates have taken that unpleasant experience and transformed it into something that everyone will benefit from through this law. If I ask your indulgence in the House, they are asking when we vote on a bill, if we could just. I could briefly read the summary.

Oh, please. Read away.

May I do that now?

So this measure, SB601, Senate Draft1, House Draft1. And we are proposing to approve it with a conference. Draft 1 with effective date upon approval. This measure requires law enforcement to post notice that a warranted or warrantless search has been conducted on a property.

It requires a law enforcement officer to secure any entrance used by an officer in the search. Requires law enforcement agencies to develop a policy for securing the entrances to house, store or other building designated as a place to be searched after a search is completed.

It allows the breaking of any doors, gates, other bars to the entrance closets and other closed places during a search when reasonable and other means of entering the space are not reasonable. So with that, Senator, we are prepared to move forward to vote on this measure with a clean date a upon approval.

Fantastic. So if you don't mind, I'll take the vote.[Roll Call] And may I take the vote on behalf?

Yes, please.

[Roll Call] We have a bill.

Thank you very much. There being no further business before this conference Committee today, we are adjourned.

Welcome everyone to the Conference Committee hearing between the House and Senate to consider numerous measures. It is Thursday, April 17th, 3:46pm here in Conference Room 325 at the State Capitol. Thank you to the Senators for being here. Thank you to House Members for being here, for considering these Members, these measures.

First up, we have a House Bill. It's okay, Senator, go ahead and get started? Introduce our House conferees. House Bill 126, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 2, relating to property forfeiture. For the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as Co-Chairs and Shimizu as Member.

For the Senate, myself as Chair, Senator Kanuha is Co-Chair, and Fevella as Member.

Thank you. On this measure, I appreciate your ambitious attempts in the Senate Draft, and I think I'm taking a more modest approach. But I think we have a similar goal in mind to reform our civil asset forfeiture system within the state.

I would like to move forward to propose a conference draft to you that builds on the House Draft, but also takes some ideas from the Senate Draft in that we would... I would propose that we change the trigger rather than to conviction, but we actually change the trigger for forfeiture to being charged.

It's a step in the right direction that towards the Senate version. But right now it's currently only an arrest is needed for seizure or forfeiture. Sometimes even just a search would allow that. And I think we do need to move away from that. So that's just, that's one provision.

Another is that we would include a provision that if no such charge is filed within one year from the date of seizure, all property that has been properly claimed shall be returned to the claimant. So we're trying to put a timeline on this so that it's more fair in my opinion.

And that knowing what came out in the Senate Draft 2 about the sharing program for where the money would go, I think we kept it similar to what the... I think we kept it the same as what the Senate Draft in the Senate Draft 2 is. I know that wasn't what you passed out of your committee, but we kept it the same as the Senate Draft 2.

But we also retained the prohibition on the equitable sharing program that allowed for cooperation to seize with federal agencies, as you had suggested in your draft, unless the seized property includes US currency in excess of 100,000. Those are the main things. But if it's okay with you, I'd like to propose a CD 1 and get it to you for your review.

Okay, that sounds great.

If it's okay, while you're reviewing it, while I get the CD one to you and while you're reviewing it, could we plan to reconvene on this bill on Monday, April 21st here in Conference Room 325 at 2:05pm?

2:05. Yes, that's fine.

Okay, thank you. Let's do that.

Okay, let's move to the next bill. House Bill 134, House Draft One, Senate Draft One, relating to elections for the House. We have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs and Matsumoto as member.

For the Senate, myself as Chair, Senator Kim as Co-Chair, and Fevella as manager.

Okay. On this one, I'd like to propose a Conference Draft One for your consideration after discussion with the Office of Elections, that we would have an effective date of January 1st, 2028, to give them some time to set up a system that is secure for this electronic filing of nomination papers.

The Office of Elections also said it would cost them some money, so we would have to put in an appropriation, which is they had requested 150,000 in A funds.

So I know we both need to get approval from the money committees on this, but I'd like to put forward a conference draft for your consideration, and that if it's amenable, if you're amenable to it, that we could both go to our respective money committees to request their approval. Okay, so I'll do that.

Could we please reconvene on this also on Monday, April 21st, in room 325 at 2:05 p.m.?

Okay, let's do that.

That's fine.

205.

205. 205. Let's move on to the next measure, if I may, House Bill 370, House Draft Two, Senate Draft One, relating to partial public financing of elections. On the House side we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs and Garcia as member.

For the Senate, myself as Chair, Senator Hashimoto is Co-Chair, and Fevella as manager.

Thank you. On this measure, we in order to try to get through a bill that would increase the partial public financing program support for those candidates who choose to follow this. I was not able to move forward with the Senate Draft One. It was too expensive.

And I'm hopeful that we can get support for the House Draft Two, which is more modest but still a significant increase.

And so what I'd like to do is to propose to prepare and have for your consideration a Conference Draft One, which would build on the House draft two, it would have an effective date of July 1st, 2025.

The appropriations, they requested appropriations in it to supplement what's in the special fund right now, to be able to meet the needs of or meet the cost of, if there's one candidate in each office that participates, that they would have enough funds to be able to pay for that.

So what we did is we looked at the total amount, and I had the Campaign Spending Commission to assist me. They gave me the total amount that would be needed to support the expanded public financing, partial public financing, and then subtracted the amount of money that's in the special fund right now.

They also have requested that we would increase the expenditure ceiling for that special fund. So I'll put all of these numbers into a proposed conference draft one and send it to you for your consideration.

Was that roughly what the Campaign Spending Commission had? They had a bill, right?

Yes. This is based on the Campaign Spending Commission Bill.

Yeah, that sounds fine.

I think that's a reasonable request.

And the increase in the expenditure ceiling was something that they had not brought up sooner. But they did bring it up to me in my recent conversations with them, and they said that would be essential for them to be able to spend the money because right now they're cap.

Yep.

Okay, great.

Sounds good.

So if it's okay with you, I'd like to prepare that CD1 for your consideration. And if you are amenable to the proposed CD1, then we would need to seek approval from fin and WAM.

So let's plan to reconvene on this with along with the other ones Monday, April 21st in room 325 at 2:05pm. Okay, thank you. Okay, let's move on to the next measure. House Bill 395, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 1, relating to jury duty. On the House, on behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as Co-Chairs, Belatti and Garcia as Members.

For the Senate, myself as Chair, Co-Chair Senator Moriwaki, and Senator Awa as Manager.

Thank you. We have, the state has not increased the jury juror compensation for many, many years. And it's time we do that in my opinion. So I would like to move forward. We had talked about, is it, you know, the House had $50 a day, you had $75 a day. I went back to the Judiciary.

They're encouraging us to follow sort of the national standard, national average that they found, which was $50 a day. So I would propose that we do that. We increase it from currently $30 a day to $50 a day for each day of actual attendance in court. Judiciary has said that if we do $50 a day, their appropriation that they would need would be $684,385.

$684,385 per fiscal year. So it's not cheap, but it is something that I think we need to seriously consider. So I would like to propose that I would prepare a CD 1 based on this. It would have an effective date of July 1, 2025. I'd send it to you for your consideration, and then if you think it's a good idea, then we could go to our respective money committees for their...

I mean realistically, we'll be lucky to get that, so that's fine.

I think you're correct.

I mean, I'm not sure that the average, the national average actually applies here. I mean I think we're probably one of the most expensive states.

Well, there is that. Yes.

But 50 is better than 30, so I'm happy to...

Well, let's give it a try. These are lean times, and so I'm just trying to get something we can actually get across the finish line.

It does go directly into our economy, which is spent instantaneously. That part of it's good.

Okay, so let's, if it's okay with you, let's plan to reconvene on this measure Monday, April 21st. Room 325. This room at 2:05pm Sounds great. Okay, thank you. Okay, let's move on to the next measure. House Bill 396 relating to compensation for court appointed counsel on behalf of the House.

We have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co chairs, Bellotti and Garcia as Members for.

The Senate, myself as Chair, Senator Moriwake as co chair and Senator Waugh as manager.

Thank you. On this measure, you know, we, I understand from Judiciary that they're having serious difficulty finding attorneys willing to serve as court appointed counsels because of the low rate that is paid, which is currently $90 an hour.

We would like to move forward with a conference draft that's proposed to increase that to $150 an hour, which is still not as much as many attorneys charge. But I think we would be able to get more people to serve as court appointed counsel. So that's what I would like to prepare.

If we do 150 an hour, judiciary came back and said they would need an appropriation 2.89 million in each fiscal year moving forward. Again, we'd be very fortunate if we can get this through, but I'd like to try.

I agree. And I just by frame of reference, when I first started practicing law in 1996 at a five Member firm, I was billed at 125 an hour. Yeah.

In 96. 96. So yes, we're way, we're way behind. I mean 96, that's the last time I was here. Decades ago. My hair was a different color back then, you know. Okay. So with your permission, I'd like to move forward with that proposed CD1 for your consideration. And we would have an effective date of July 12025.

If it looks good to you, then we could. We could request release from our respective money committees.

Okay.

Okay, thanks. So let's plan to reconvene on this measure Monday, April 21st in room 325 at 2:05 p.m. okay, thank you. Thank. You.

Move forward to the next Measure, House Bill 398 relating to compensation for court appointed representation on behalf of the House. We have Tarnas and Kitagawa as Co-Chairs, Belatti and Garcia

As Members for The Senate, myself as Chair, Co-hair Senator Moriwaki and Senator Fevella as manager.

Okay. This is another one of our measures that we have to try to increase the compensation for those professionals who are involved in the, in the judicial system. This is specifically to increase the compensation for court appointed counsel and guardians ad litem in family court proceedings.

Right now they're paid at $90 an hour for in court services by an attorney, $60 an hour for out of court services by an attorney. Again, they're just having significant difficulties in getting professionals to serve in these capacities.

So I would like to propose to you a CD1 which is based on the SD2 and has an effective date upon approval that we could take to our respective money committees to seek release.

Okay, Sounds good to me. And it's. Yes, there's a very, a very needed increase.

Yes, I, I would agree. So if it's okay with you, let's plan to reconvene on this measure Monday, April 21st here in room 325 at 2:05pm okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Let's move on to the next measure, House Bill 399. Sorry. No, it's okay.

House Bill 399, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 2 relating to district court judges on behalf of the House. We have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co chairs, Bellotti and Garcia as Members for.

The Senate, myself as Chair, Co-Chair Moriwaki and Manager Awa. Thank you.

On this measure, this actually Establishes one additional district court judge position in the First Circuit, a much needed additional judgeship. Considering the workload that they're experiencing here. It's, I mean the docket is just so full with the number of judges you have here in the First Circuit that we need to, I think, supplement that.

So this is, I think a very important measure just for the people who are listening. In order to establish a new judgeship, we need both the appropriations for the salary and infringed support for the petition position. But we also need enabling legislation to authorize that new position. That's what this is.

This is the enabling authorizing this new position. And so we need both. And so I would. I'm very hopeful we can move this forward. So I'm proposing a conference draft one with the effective date of July 1, 2025 so that we can request from our respective money committees a release so we can move this forward.

Sounds good. Okay, so let's plan to reconvene on this on Monday, April 21st in room 325 at 2:05pm thank you. Okay, thank you very much. Next Measure, House Bill 400. This is the Judiciary budget and I will work with the Finance Committee.

Sounds good.

Since this is a House Bill, I will work with the Finance Committee to produce a conference draft one. I prefer moving forward with something that is close to the House draft one and we're working with Judiciary on that. And once I prepare that in conjunction with Finance, I'd like to send it to you for your consideration.

And if you think it's a good bill, that we can move it forward to our respective Money committees.

Short term memory loss. But did we announce our conferees on that one?

On behalf of the House, For House Bill 400, HD1SD2 related to the Judiciary, we have Tarnas and Yamashita as Co-Chairs, Poepoe, Takenouchi and Garcia.

As Members for the Senate, it's myself as Chair, Co-Chair Moriwaki and Manager Awa.

Thank you. Thanks for reminding me to to do that. So. So I will prepare CD1 working with Finance, building on the HD1 working with Judiciary, and then send it to you for your consideration. Great, Great. Thank you.

Okay, so let's plan to reconvene on this on Monday, April 21st, room 325 in this room at 2:05pm. Thanks very much. Okay, thank you very much. Now moving on to House Bill 401 relating to District Court judges on behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as Co-Chairs Belatti and Garcia.

As Members for the Senate, myself as Chair, Moriwaki Co-Chair and Awa as a manager.

Okay, thanks. Now this is a very similar measures to the one that we just discussed. 399 in this bill. House Bill 401 HD1SD2. This establishes one additional district court judgeship in the Third Circuit. Again, this is the authorizing legislation to establish this position. Much needed. It's on the Kona side, the west side of the island.

And so what I'd like to do is to prepare for your consideration Conference Draft 1, which would be basically the SD2 with effective date upon approval and that we could seek release from our respective money committees.

That's acceptable to me.

Thank you. Okay, great. Let's reconvene on this measure Monday, April 21st here in this room. 325 at 2:05pm thank you. Sorry, that. That means you're in agreement that we're gonna. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. We will reconvene on Monday on this bill. Okay, let's move forward. Thank you, Senator. Let's move forward to House Bill 648.

House Draft 1. Senate Draft 1 relating to guardianship and conservatorship services. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co chairs, Belatti, Marten and Shimizu as Members.

I guess I'm not Talking loud enough. HB648 for the Senate. Myself as Chair, Co-Chair Elefante and Manager Awa.

Thank you. This is a very important measure. There's been process that the Department of Health has been carrying out. Meeting with different participants and stakeholders. I want to say thanks to Shea Silbert for his work facilitating that under the careful guidance of Daintree Bartholdis.

And they brought together stakeholders to discuss what's working, what's not working, how do we move forward? What parts of the Uniform law can we actually implement here that will make sense?

So this establishes a two year pilot program in the probate court and family court of the First Circuit Fund certain guardianship and conservatorship related court resources in situations where the respondent does not have the sufficient funds to pay for one or more of the resources and the court has deemed the resource or resources beneficial.

It's a good start. It's a two year pilot program. I think it's great value. We'll learn a lot from it. It's $100,000 for the probate court, $100,000 for family court. It's a great value for that kind of Investment Effective Date July 1, 2025.

With your permission, I'd like to prepare for your consideration a CD one with those provisions in it for you to consider. If you think it's a good idea, then we'll take it to our money committees and if we can get release. Perfect. Thank you. Okay, let's do that.

Let's do that. Let's reconvene on this measure on Monday, April 21st, here in room 325 at 2:05 PM. Okay. Is that good with you?

Yes, it is. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Okay, let's move on to the next measure, House Bill 727, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 2, relating to the Women's Court.

On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs. Belatti, Ichiyama, Poepoe, and Shimizu as Members.

Thank you. For the Senate, myself as Chair, Co-Chair is Senator DeCoite and Member Awa.

Thank you. You know, the Women's Court Pilot Program here in the First Circuit has been very successful and I think it serves an extremely useful purpose. This measure makes the Women's Court Pilot Program in the First Circuit permanent, and it starts the process of establishing a Women's Court Pilot Program in the Third Circuit.

In discussions with the Judiciary, we've chosen to move forward with the Kona Division, the West side, Kona Division of the Third Circuit, and that we would work, we would try this as a temporary three-year pilot program for a Women's Court there.

And so, I, I think it is a very beneficial program that I'd like to see expanded. I'd like your permission to prepare a conference draft one that carries out what I just described for your consideration, and then if you think it's a good idea, we'll take it to our money committee.

Sounds great. Thank you very much.

Okay, thanks very much.

Let's plan to reconvene on this Measure on Monday, April 21st here in room 325 at 2:05pm Sounds good. Okay, great. Okay, let's go to the last measure on our agenda. Very important measure. House Bill 1001, House Draft 1. Senate Draft 3 relating to settlement of claims related to the Maui Wildfires.

On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Yamashita as co chairs. Poipoi take no Uchi and Garcia as Members.

Thank you for the sentence. Myself as Chair, Co-Chairs Senators Chang and Wakai and Manager Awa.

Thank you. This is a very important measure that pays for the state's portion of the Maui Wildfire settlement. This establishes a trust Fund to be administered by the Attorney General and appropriates funds to Fund the settlement of claims related to the 2023 Maui wildfires.

I would like to prepare a conference draft, one based on the work that both your chamber and my chamber has done on this and insert all the funds that we've agreed to with an effective date of July 1, 2025. I'll send that to you for your consideration.

If you think the bill is good and ready, then we could send it to our money committees to seek their approval.

Let me ask my co chairs, Are you aware of any other things that need to be included at this? I see. Okay. I think that we're there on the legal side of things, but yes, I think it would be appropriate at this point to have a draft and go from there.

Because obviously this is very large amounts of money.

It's a very significant sum of money and the Bill is of such import that we do need to be very, very careful and discerning about it. So I would just like to propose a CD one for your review. That sounds great. And then we can come back and continue discussions on this.

Let's reconvene on this Measure on Monday, April 21st, here in Conference Room 325 at 2:05pm Perfect.

Thank you very much.

Sounds good. That's everything we have on our agenda. We are adjourning.