RES 319 Draft 01 2010-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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JUSTIFICATION SHEET PROPOSER: Hawai`i State Association of Counties TITLE: RELATING TO DEFINITION OF INDIGENCY PURPOSE: To promote fairness and consistency within our judicial system, it is proposed that the State of Hawai`i reconsider the current indigency definition, establish a screening program for financial need and third party review, and adopt a process which would clearly delineated the circumstances in which court-appointed counsel is necessary. MEANS: Amend HRS 802-4 to: (a) Include a concrete definition of indigency to allow non-objective determination of annual income and other resources. Consider that if a criminal defendant is receiving some variety of public assistance,they may be deemed indigent; (c) Establish indigency at one hundred twenty-five percent(125%) or less of the current federally established poverty level; (d) Include a"partially indigent"designation, which requires criminal defendants to reimburse the state for a portion or all of the cost of court-appointed counsel; (e) Establish a uniform, well-defined screening process that includes an in-depth investigation of the applicant's financial circumstances to make an accurate determination as to whether the criminal defendant warrants government-funded public defense; (f) Require that"indigency" should be performed by an independent board, agency, or committee, or by judges not directly involved in the case, (g) Gather and verify substantial financial data including: biographical information and itemize any public assistance that the criminal defendant is receiving, criminal defendant and defendant's spouse's jobs, list assets(such as homes in any location,cars and investments);monthly expenses (food, rent, medical/dental), other debts, other persons living in the household(including children, dependants and contributing members of the household), provide space for listing more than one job, income provided to criminal defendant by individuals other than himself and his spouse, retirement benefits, any alimony/child support received, sporting equipment(such as boats and motorcycles), money owed to the criminal defendant,personal property of worth(such as appliances), other valuable property (such as gold, precious stones, EXHIBIT A