Judiciary,
attorneys debate
move to Kapolei

Results of a survey on
moving Family Court to Kapolei
are interpreted differently by
the state and a lawyers group

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

The state Judiciary and a section of the Hawaii Bar Association disagree on whether a recent survey they conducted shows the public will be better served by a state plan to move Family Court to Kapolei in a few years.

If left unresolved, the issue could further delay efforts to send additional state employees to work in Oahu's so-called second city.

"From an access-to-justice perspective, the survey results clearly do not support the present state administration's plan to relocate the entire Family Court to Kapolei," said attorney Jacqueline Kong, chairwoman of the Family Law section of the Hawaii Bar Association.

Judiciary Deputy Administrative Director Clyde Namuo yesterday said the Judiciary will ask the 1999 state Legislature to fund construction of a new Family Court Center on two parcels of land at Kamokila Boulevard and Kapolei Parkway, at a cost of $60 million to $80 million.

The plan, he said, is to move Family Court -- including its 11 judges and 340 other workers -- into a 14-courtroom building a block from the new Kapolei State Office Building. Namuo said Campbell Estate has provided the Judiciary with sufficient land to develop a state-of-the-art facility, which also will allow video conferencing between Kapolei and Honolulu for certain cases.

Design money for the center has been approved, he added.

"That's our intention, to move everything," Namuo said.

Family Court now shares offices with Circuit Court in Kaahumanu Hale on Punchbowl Street, but Namuo said Circuit Court wants more space and conditions already are overcrowded for Family Court.

The survey results were based on 3,050 polled people between March 9 and April 10 at Family Court.

They are sorted into two groups: people who come to Family Court for a case and those who provide legal and professional support, like attorneys, clerks and messengers.

Namuo pointed to results that show 64 percent of the people who visited Family Court are Leeward, Central or Windward residents. Those people, he said, will be less inconvenienced and more efficiently served in Kapolei because travel from Central and Leeward Oahu is quicker there than to Honolulu.

Also, the H-3 freeway now makes it faster for Windward residents to get to Kapolei, he said.

Namuo said results show 81 percent of the user group drove or were driven to the courthouse, and 14 percent rode the bus. When asked how they would get to a new Family Court Center in Kapolei today, 74 percent said they would drive or be driven, and 17 percent said they would take a bus.

Kong -- whose comments represent the 170 attorneys in the Family Law section and not an official position of the bar association -- contends the survey shows only a need for a reasonably sized secondary facility in Kapolei, with a principal Family Court system remaining in Honolulu.

The group of attorneys bases its position on results that show 56 percent of the total number of people surveyed work in Honolulu.

Some 45 percent of the people questioned live in Honolulu, compared to 20 percent in Leeward Oahu, and 16 percent each for Windward and Central Oahu.

"We're saying that these are the people who use the court, so if they are inconvenienced because they have to come (to Kapolei) from work in town or from home in town, then justice is not accomplished. . . . And who knows if they will make it out there or not," Kong said.

The Judiciary is aware of the concerns, and a committee of state officials and attorneys is trying to work out the problem, she said.

Sen. Matt Matsunaga (D, Palolo), co-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said yesterday that lawmakers would want assurances the interest of families and children are best served by the move before they forward a request for construction money.

"We'll give it a fair look," he said.

Namuo said the state will begin discussions with the public-worker unions once construction funds have been appropriated. At that time, Family Court employees who don't want to work in Kapolei should seek a transfer within the department, he said.

The Hawaii Labor Relations Board last June temporarily blocked the move of 1,000 state workers to the Kapolei State Office Building until the state held "meaningful consultations" about the move with the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

Both sides reached an agreement in August, and the transfer of those workers should be done in November.