STAND. COM. REP. NO.  823

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1234

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1234 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TESTIMONY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to adopt a uniform standard, based on the Federal Rules of Evidence, for ensuring the admissibility of reliable, trustworthy, and relevant lay and expert testimony in a judicial proceeding.

 

The Department of the Attorney General, Watanabe Ing & Komeiji, LLP, and several attorneys of Starn O'Toole Marcus & Fisher testified in support of this bill.  The Judiciary, Office of the Public Defender, Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii, and a concerned individual opposed this measure.

 

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to January 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1234, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1234, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

TOMMY WATERS, Chair