STAND. COM. REP. NO. 746

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 556

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 556, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY COURT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to create a rebuttable presumption in favor of joint custody in all custody determinations involving children.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Children's Rights Council of Hawaii and seven individuals. Testimony in opposition the measure was submitted by the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii and six individuals. Offering comments on the measure were the Judiciary, the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, and one individual.

This measure creates a rebuttable presumption in favor of joint custody in all child custody determinations. Under this measure, joint custody is defined as shared parenting as developed in a parenting plan by the mother and father of a child.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the rebuttable presumption in favor of joint custody and instead requiring a court, in determining custody arrangements, to ensure that a child has frequent, continuing, and developmentally appropriate contact with both parents, to encourage both parents to share the rights and responsibilities in raising that child, and not to disrupt the normal breastfeeding routine of a child under the age of two;

(2) Requiring the submission of a parenting plan along with a complaint or answer to a divorce and requiring the parties involved in a divorce action to attend alternative dispute resolution or participate in professional counseling in the event that the parties cannot agree on a parenting plan; and

(3) Defecting the effective date to promote continuing discussion on this measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 556, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 556, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair