HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

144

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the department of public safety to convene a working group regarding process servers.

 

 


     WHEREAS, process servers play an important role in facilitating timely judicial process and protecting public safety; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Auditor's Report No. 91-17, the Auditor recommended that the State not regulate process servers; however, delays and inefficiencies in the service of process by the Sheriff Division persisted; and

 

     WHEREAS, since the Auditor's report in 1991, the Legislature has considered several measures to regulate process servers; and

 

     WHEREAS, recently, the Legislature has received complaints from constituents of situations involving process servers that rise to the level of being inappropriate and even abusive; and

 

     WHEREAS, this body believes that consideration should be given to the regulation of process servers to avoid situations of inappropriate and abusive actions by process servers; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Public Safety is requested to chair and convene a working group to consider and make recommendations to define and delineate the powers and duties of process servers; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the objectives of the working group include:

 

     (1)  Defining and delineating the duties and responsibilities of process servers;

 

     (2)  Creating a process of registration for process servers in the State;

 

     (3)  Examining licensing requirements of and jurisdictional concerns relating to the private process service industry in the State;

 

     (4)  Developing draft rules and regulations governing private process servers and restrictions on the service of process; and

 

     (5)  Addressing other issues deemed relevant to process servers by the working group or the Department of Public Safety; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Public Safety invite representatives of the following groups and entities to participate in the working group:

 

     (1)  Private process servers;

 

     (2)  Sheriff Division of the Department of Public Safety;

 

     (3)  The Judiciary;

 

     (4)  The Hawaii State Bar Association; and

 

     (5)  The Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs;

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the working group serve without compensation for their service on the working group; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2016; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Public Safety, Chief Justice, Hawaii State Bar Association, and Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:  

Process Servers; Working Group