CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT NO.94

                            Honolulu, Hawaii
                                            , 1999

                            RE:   H.B. No. 1117
                                  H.D. 3
                                  S.D. 2
                                  C.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the
House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate
in H.B. No. 1117, H.D. 3, S.D. 2, entitled:

    "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CHILD PROTECTIVE ACT,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to
recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final
passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this bill is to conform Hawaii law with the
federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which seeks to
expedite permanency for children in foster care.

     Among other things, this bill:

     (1) Provides a definition for "abandoned infant";

     (2) Clarifies the definition of "aggravated circumstances"
         to include torture or abandonment of the child;

     (3) Clarifies service of summons on an out-of-state party;

 
 
                            CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT NO.94
                            Page 2



     (4) Reduces the time period that triggers a show cause
         hearing, when the child's family home has been
         determined to be unsafe, from eighteen months to twelve
         consecutive months in which the child has been residing
         outside the family home;

     (5) Requires the court to set the case for a show cause
         hearing within thirty days if the court determines that
         aggravated circumstances are present;

     (6) Requires the court, at a review hearing, to set the case
         for a show cause hearing: within thirty days if the
         court determines that aggravated circumstances are
         present; or if the child has been residing outside the
         family home for twelve consecutive months;

     (7) Requires the Department of Human Services to file a
         motion to set the matter for a permanent plan hearing if
         the child has been residing outside of the family home
         for an aggregate of fifteen out of the most recent
         twenty-two months; and

     (8) Reduces from three years to two the time in which it is
         presumed reasonably foreseeable that a safe family home
         can be provided to the child by the legal mother or
         father, or natural father for purposes of a permanent
         plan hearing.

     Your Committee on Conference has amended this bill by:

     (1) Including language in the definition of "abandoned
         infant" to include not only the presumed or alleged non-
         adjudicated father but the mother as well; and

     (2) Making technical, nonsubstantive revisions for the
         purpose of style.

     Your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent
and purpose of H.B. No. 1117, H.D. 3, S.D. 2, as amended herein,
and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached
hereto as H.B. No. 1117, H.D. 3, S.D. 2, C.D. 1.
                                   Respectfully submitted,


 
 
 
 
 
                            CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT NO.94
                            Page 3



MANAGERS ON THE PART OF THE        MANAGERS ON THE PART OF THE
           SENATE                              HOUSE
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Co-Chair     DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Co-Chair
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair        PAUL T. OSHIRO, Co-Chair
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
WHITNEY ANDERSON, Member           SCOTT K. SAIKI, Co-Chair
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   ______________________________
                                   MARILYN B. LEE, Member
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   ______________________________
                                   PAUL WHALEN, Member