STAND. COM. REP. NO. 178

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 889

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

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. 889 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ATTORNEY'S FEES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that when the State prevails in a court action, the Attorney General is allowed an award of attorney's fees and litigation costs but not to the Attorney General personally.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

 

     Your Committee finds that some courts have misinterpreted section 28-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and have refused to award attorney's fees to the State or the Department of the Attorney General when the State prevails in a lawsuit and a deputy attorney general requests an award of attorney's fees.  The purpose of section 28-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is to prohibit the Attorney General and deputy attorneys general from being compensated for performing a task that is already a part of their official duties and for which they receive a salary.  However, existing law was not meant to prevent the State or the department from recovering attorney's fees in lawsuits in which the State prevails.  Accordingly, this measure allows the department an award of attorney's fees when the State prevails in a lawsuit and clarifies that the Attorney General shall not personally receive a fee or reward.  Your Committee notes its intent that the attorney's fees awarded to the department shall be consistent with the amount of awards to other interested parties.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion on this matter.

 

     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. 889, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 889, S.D. 1, 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