Bill Text: HI HCR154 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Judges

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-04-18 - The committee on JDL deferred the measure. [HCR154 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-HCR154-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

154

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the legislative reference bureau to evaluate the establishment of separate medical and pension benefit plans for JUSTICES AND judges.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, state justices and judges are currently included among public employees who are members of the Employees' Retirement System and the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; and

 

     WHEREAS, justices and judges may face potential conflicts of interest when a case is brought to them that deals with the rights and benefits of members of the Employees' Retirement System and the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, especially with regard to the rights and benefits of the members in class A of the Employees' Retirement System, which includes justices and judges; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 13, 2016, the Hawaii State Supreme Court issued an order assigning substitutes for all five justices of the Supreme Court in the matter of Dannenberg v. State of Hawaii, Supreme Court, No. SCAP-15-0000084, a court case regarding the scope of constitutionally mandated health benefits for state and county retirees; and

 

     WHEREAS, it appears that the justices recused themselves in the Dannenberg case because of the justices' membership in the Employees' Retirement System and the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; and

 

     WHEREAS, the exclusion of justices and judges from membership in the Employee's Retirement System and the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund may allow justices and judges to impartially hear cases involving the rights and benefits of members of those pension and medical benefit plans, especially the rights and benefits of members in class A of the Employees' Retirement System; and

 

     WHEREAS, the exclusion of justices and judges from membership in the Employees' Retirement System and the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund would require the establishment of separate medical and pension benefit plans for judges; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the Senate concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is respectfully requested to evaluate the establishment of separate medical and pension benefit plans for justices and judges; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature Reference Bureau include in its evaluation:

 

     (1)  If separate medical and pension plans can be established; and

 

     (2)  If such plans can be established, what types of plans can be established; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2017; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Chief Justice, and the Administrative Director of the Courts.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Judges

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