Bill Text: HI SB2110 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To The Child Protective Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-03-16 - This measure has been deleted from the meeting scheduled on Tuesday 03-17-20 2:05PM in conference room 325. [SB2110 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2020-SB2110-Introduced.html
THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2110 |
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE CHILD PROTECTIVE ACT.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the Hawaii supreme court held in In the Interest of T.M., 131 Hawaii 419 (2014), that indigent parents are guaranteed the right to court-appointed counsel in termination of parental rights proceedings under the due process clause of the Hawaii State Constitution. In this case, the court held that the family court abused its discretion in failing to appoint counsel for the mother until nineteen months after the department of human services filed a petition for temporary foster custody over her infant son. As a result, the mother was left without the legal guidance to help her understand the process and ramifications of the parental rights termination process or prepare her for the parental rights termination hearing, and without an advocate to represent her in negotiations with the department of human services. Hence, the court held that the appointment of an attorney is crucial to ensure that parents are provided a fair procedure under the Child Protective Act, chapter 587A, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Existing law authorizes the family court to determine whether to appoint an attorney to represent a legal parent who is indigent based on court-established guidelines. However, the Hawaii supreme court opined that this case-by-case approach for court-appointed attorneys under section 587A-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, fails to protect an indigent parent's liberty interest in the care, custody, and control of the parent's children and the vagaries of this case-by-case approach would be removed by mandating the appointment of counsel for indigent parents.
The purpose of this Act is to ensure the due process rights of indigent parents by requiring the court to appoint counsel to indigent parents and to make every effort to do so at the first hearing attended by the parent or parents.
SECTION 2. Section 587A-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending its title and subsection (a) to read as follows:
"[[]§587A-17[]] Court-appointed attorneys. (a)
The court [may] shall appoint an attorney to represent a legal
parent who is indigent, or was represented by private counsel but is now
indigent and no longer represented by counsel, based on court-established
guidelines[.], unless the legal parent knowingly and voluntarily
waives the right to appointed counsel on the record. If a legal parent appears without counsel,
the court or its designee shall utilize court-established guidelines to inquire
as to whether the legal parent is indigent.
The court shall make every effort to provide counsel at the first
hearing attended by the legal parent, but if counsel does not appear at such
hearing, the court shall not enter a ruling or order that would prejudice the
legal parent's rights until counsel appears or the legal parent knowingly and
voluntarily waives the right to appointed counsel on the record; provided that
nothing in this section shall preclude court orders required for the safety of
the subject child or children. If counsel
is not appointed at least three days prior to the date of the hearing, the court
may grant counsel a continuance if requested. The court may also appoint an attorney to
represent a legal parent in family supervision cases or another indigent
party based on court-established guidelines, if it is deemed to be in the
child's best interest. Attorneys who are
appointed by the court to represent indigent legal parents and other indigent
qualifying parties may be paid by the court, unless the legal parent or party
for whom counsel is appointed has an independent estate sufficient to pay such
fees and costs. The court may order the
appropriate legal parent or party to pay or reimburse the fees and costs of an
attorney appointed for the child or incapacitated adult."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Child Protective Act; Family Court; Court-appointed Attorneys; Indigent Parents
Description:
Requires the court to appoint counsel to indigent parents and make every effort to do so at the first hearing attended by the parent.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.