HAWAII HB766 DEFEATED!

Description of bill: "Establishes a task force within the Judiciary to review allowing service of notice and process by electronic mail in civil and administrative proceedings."

Bob Musser, NAPPS 2nd Vice President and Andy Estin, NAPPS Director and Legislative Chairperson, submitted position papers in opposition to the Bill. Jillina Kwiatkowski, NAPPS President, requested that they go to Hawaii to meet with legislators and provide testimony at the February 11 committee hearing. With only a couple days' notice, they were able to personally meet with the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and key committee staffers to further outline our opposition to the Bill in detail. After these meetings they were told the Bill would be deferred until the committee met again on February 13. It was at that meeting that the committee voted to defer the Bill, effectively killing it.  

This scenario precisely illustrates why NAPPS considers legislative monitoring to be its highest priority. If this Bill were to pass it would be disastrous not just for process servers in Hawaii, but for all process servers, as other states would most certainly push for similar legislation over time. NAPPS had been monitoring this Bill since it was introduced and, under President Kwiatkowski's leadership, took the necessary steps to defeat it since there is no state association in Hawaii.

Thank you to Bob Musser and Andy Estin for a job very well done!