STAND. COM. REP. NO. 185

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 878

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 878 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ARBITRATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the authority of an arbitrator to award costs in arbitration proceedings.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association for Justice.

 

     Your Committee finds that existing law allows an arbitrator to award attorney's fees and other reasonable expenses relating to arbitration.  However, there is confusion as to whether "expenses of arbitration" has the same meaning as "costs" because "costs" has its own distinct meaning that is traditionally used and applied by the courts.  This measure adds the term "costs" to comply with the more traditional meaning used by the courts, which includes costs such as deposition transcripts, witness fees, copying costs, and similar expenditures.

 

     Your Committee further finds that existing law authorizes an arbitrator to award attorney's fees and other expenses in a civil action involving the same claim or by the agreement of the parties to the arbitration proceeding.  This measure changes the term "same claim" to "similar claim" to recognize that arbitration procedures are more flexible in addressing a wider range of disputes and issues than the courts and provide arbitrators the same discretion as judges to award costs when appropriate.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 878 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

		____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair