STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2592

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2225

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2225 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRISON LITIGATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to reduce frivolous litigation while preserving prisoner rights, by imposing certain conditions on prisoner lawsuits brought in forma pauperis (without having to pay court fees).

 

Specifically, this measure, among other things:

 

     (1)  Requires any prisoner seeking to file a lawsuit in forma pauperis to submit financial documents, certified by the correctional facility, indicating the prisoner's inability to pay court filing fees;

 

     (2)  Authorizes courts to require prisoners to make partial payments of filing fees as funds become available in the prisoner's account, when the prisoner's lawsuit does not meet the requirements for in forma pauperis actions; and

 

     (3)  Provides that after a prisoner has had four or more in forma pauperis civil actions or appeals dismissed by a court as frivolous or malicious, or for failure to state a claim, the prisoner must pay the full filing fee in advance for any future lawsuits during the period of incarceration, unless the prisoner is in imminent danger of serious injury.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Community Alliance on Prisons.

 

     Your Committee finds that a prisoner may bring a court action in forma pauperis if the prisoner demonstrates an inability to pay court fees.  This measure structures the process for filing these prisoner lawsuits to eliminate fraudulent assertions of poverty and reduce frivolous lawsuits that divert government resources away from other litigation that have or may have merit.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying an internal cross-reference with respect to the payment of the full amount of costs ordered in a judgment against a prisoner in an in forma pauperis action; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2225, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2225, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair