Bill Text: HI HCR199 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Judiciary To Study And Make Recommendations On Ways To Increase Gender Equity In The Filling Of Judicial Vacancies.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 17-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-03-29 - Referred to JDC/LBR. [HCR199 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2018-HCR199-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	199
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the judiciary to study and make recommendations on WAYS TO increase gender equity in THE FILLING OF judicial VACANCIES.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, according to the American Bar Association's 2017 report titled "A Current Glance at Women in the Law", women constitute thirty-six percent of persons in the legal profession; 47.3 percent of persons awarded law degrees; and 31.1 percent of all state court judges in the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the Hawaii State Bar Association's 2017 Bar Statistics and Summaries, 2,195 of the 5,373 Hawaii-based members of the bar, or nearly forty-one percent, are women, and twenty-nine of the eighty-four Hawaii-based judicial members of the bar, or roughly thirty-four percent, are women; and

 

     WHEREAS, 47.7 percent of the students enrolled in the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2016 were women; and

 

     WHEREAS, despite the fact that the percentage of women entering and graduating from law schools in the country is nearly equal to that of men, the number of women applying for judicial vacancies in the State is markedly low, compared to the number of male applicants; and

 

     WHEREAS, press releases from the Judicial Selection Commission within the past year indicate that:

 

     (1)  Of the judicial vacancies announced by the Commission in February 2018, two women and seven men applied for a vacant Intermediate Court of Appeals position; four women and twenty-one men applied for a vacant Circuit Court position; and eleven women and twenty-nine men applied for a vacant District Court position; and

 

     (2)  Of the judicial vacancies announced by the Commission in October 2017, four women and eighteen men, and four women and nineteen men, applied for each of two vacant Circuit Court positions, respectively; and

 

     (3)  With respect to a judicial vacancy announced by the Commission in July 2017, two women and four men applied for a vacant Circuit Court position; and

 

     WHEREAS, if more women served as judges and justices, members of the public would likely view the State's judicial system as being more inclusive of women and, presumably, more fair; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, the Senate concurring, that the Judiciary is requested to study and make recommendations on ways to increase gender equity in the filling of judicial vacancies; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Judiciary is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2019; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, Administrative Director of the Courts, Chairperson of the Judicial Selection Commission, Dean of the William S. Richardson School of Law, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Bar Association, and President of Hawaii Women Lawyers.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Gender Equity; Judicial Vacancies