STAND. COM. REP. 3080

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2379

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2379, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TESTIMONY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to update Hawaii Rules of Evidence rules 701, 702, and 703 to reflect the current version of Federal Rules of Evidence rules 701, 702, and 703.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of the Attorney General, Fukunaga Matayoshi Hershey & Ching, and Robbins & Associates. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Evidence Committee of the Judiciary, the Office of the Public Defender, and Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii.

The intent of your Committee is to adopt the federal standard for expert witness testimony set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), and Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999). In Daubert, the Supreme Court established four factors that clarify when expert scientific testimony is admissible. The Daubert court also established a gatekeeping requirement for trial courts that helps to ensure the reliability and relevancy of expert testimony. In Kumho Tire, the Supreme Court clarified that rule 702 applies to nonscientific, as well as scientific, expert testimony.

The Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii has declined to adopt the holdings in Daubert and Kumho Tire, in part because the Legislature has not adopted the April 17, 2000, amendments to the federal rules. See State v. Vliet, 95 Haw. 94, 105-10 (2001). The Daubert and Kumho Tire standards provide trial courts and legal practitioners with greater guidance regarding the admissibility of expert testimony under rule 702. Therefore, your Committee adopts these federal standards as part of the amendment to Hawaii Rules of Evidence rules 701 and 702.

Your Committee further believes that amendments to rule 703 is also necessary to clarify the relationship between rules 702 and 703. By making these amendments, your Committee finds that this measure should reduce confusion regarding the effect of an expert witness' reliance on otherwise inadmissible facts or data.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date from July 1, 2020 to upon its approval.

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 H.B. No. 2379, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2379, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair