Hawaii-2021-HB400-Introduced

SECTION 1. Section 652-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Before judgment. When any goods or effects of a debtor are in the possession of an attorney, agent, factor, or trustee (in this chapter jointly and severally included in the term "garnishee"), or when any debt is due from any person (also included under the term "garnishee") to a debtor, or when any person has in the person's possession for safekeeping any moneys of the debtor, any creditor may bring the creditor's action against the debtor and in the creditor's petition for process, or by amendments of the complaint at any time before judgment, after meeting the requirements of section 652-1.5, may request the court to insert in the process a direction that service of a true and attested copy thereof be made upon the garnishee[[],[]] in any of the manners described under section 652-2.5[[],[]] and to summon the garnishee to appear personally upon the day or term appointed in the process for hearing the action or at any other time appointed by the court and then and there on oath to answer all of the following inquiries, herein inclusively referred to as the "disclosure":

(1) Whether at the time the copy was served on the garnishee, the garnishee had any of the goods or effects of the defendant in the garnishee's hands and, if so, the nature, amount and value thereof;

(2) Whether at the time of service, the garnishee was indebted to the defendant and, if so, the nature and amount of the debt; or

(3) Whether at the time of service on the garnishee, the garnishee had any moneys of the defendant in the garnishee's possession for safekeeping and, if so, the amount thereof.

The summons and direction shall be signed and issued as is usual in other civil process after proceedings under section 652-1.5. The summons shall specify an amount or value of money, debt or goods or effects to be garnished which shall not exceed one hundred twenty per cent of the amount of the plaintiff's claim, including cost and interest. The summons shall be served upon the garnishee in any of the manners described under section 652-2.5. From the time of service, the garnishee shall secure in the garnishee's hands to pay such judgment as the plaintiff shall recover in the action, such of the following property or choses then in the garnishee's possession or owing to the defendant as shall equal the amount or value specified in the summons, except what the court has expressly found to be exempt from execution pursuant to section 652-1.5(d) or (f):

(1) The goods and effects of the defendant then in the hands of the garnishee;

(2) Any debt then owing from the garnishee to the defendant;

(3) Moneys of the defendant then in the possession of the garnishee for safekeeping; and

(4) A portion of the defendant's wages, salary, stipend, commissions, annuity, or net income under a trust (in this chapter included under the term "wages"), remaining after the deduction of any amounts required by law to be withheld by withholding the amount to be determined as follows: five per cent of the first $100 per month, ten per cent of the next $100 per month, and twenty per cent of all sums in excess of $200 per month, or an equivalent portion of the above amount per week, whether then or thereafter to become owing[.]; provided that any source of income described in this paragraph shall be exempt from execution if a plaintiff's claim is an attempt to recover consumer debt.

The property or choses described in (1), (2), (3), and (4) of this paragraph are included under the term "garnishee fund" (in this chapter). The cumulative total value of the fund, in advance of final judgment, shall be no more than the amount specified in the summons.

Except as provided in section 652-1.5, the summons and direction shall be sufficient notice to the defendant to enable the plaintiff to bring the plaintiff's action to trial, unless the defendant is an inhabitant of the State or has some time resided therein, in which case a like copy shall be served personally upon the defendant or left at the defendant's last and usual place of abode.

The court shall order the garnishee fund released at the hearing provided in section 652-1.5 or thereafter upon the filing by the debtor with the court of a bond or bonds issued by a surety or sureties licensed to do business as such in the State, in an amount sufficient to pay the claim of the creditor together with costs and interest, and conditioned upon judgment rendered in favor of the creditor and to the extent the claim or any portion thereof, together with costs and interests, if any, is awarded.

As used in this subsection, "consumer debt" means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services that are the subject of the transaction are intended primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. "Consumer debt" includes unpaid rent in arrears. "Consumer debt" does not include unpaid taxes, spousal or child support, whether or not in arrears, or student loans in default."

SECTION 2. Section 653-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§653-2 Attachment of salary, etc. [~~The~~] (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the salary, stipend, or wages of the beneficiary may be attached for, and applied in the payment of the beneficiary's debts, in the manner prescribed in this chapter.

(b) The salary, stipend, or wages of a beneficiary shall not be attached for, and applied in the payment of the beneficiary's consumer debt.

(c) As used in this section, "consumer debt" means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services that are the subject of the transaction are intended primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. "Consumer debt" includes unpaid rent in arrears. "Consumer debt" does not include unpaid taxes, spousal or child support, whether or not in arrears, or student loans in default."

SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	400
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII