2021 Hawaii Revised Statutes
Title 5. State Financial Administration
40. Audit and Accounting
40-82 Uncollectible accounts.
§40-82 Uncollectible accounts. (a) The directors, boards, or executive heads of executive departments, from time to time, may prepare and submit for the review of the attorney general a list of all uncollectible accounts in their departments. Such accounts as the attorney general finds to be uncollectible shall be entered in a special record and be deleted from the accounts receivable records of the departments, which shall thereupon be relieved from any further accountability for their collection; provided that no account shall be so deleted until it shall have been delinquent for at least two consecutive years. Any account entered in the special record shall be transferred back to the current accounts receivable if the attorney general finds that the facts as alleged and presented to the attorney general were not true, or that the account has become collectible.
As used in this section, "uncollectible account" means an account with regard to which:
(1) The debtor or party causing damage to property belonging to the State is no longer within the jurisdiction of the State;
(2) The debtor or party causing damage to property belonging to the State cannot be located;
(3) The party causing damage to property belonging to the State is unknown or cannot be identified;
(4) The debtor has filed for bankruptcy and has listed the State as a creditor; or
(5) Any other account as may be deemed by the attorney general to be uneconomical or impractical to collect.
(b) The judiciary, from time to time, may prepare lists of all delinquent receivables that in its judgment are uncollectible. The delinquent receivables that the judiciary finds to be uncollectible shall be entered in a special record and be deleted from the other books kept by the judiciary, and the judiciary shall thereupon be released from any further accountability for their collection; provided that no account shall be so deleted until it has been delinquent for at least two years. Any delinquent receivables so written off may be transferred back to the judiciary's accounts receivable if the judiciary finds that the facts as alleged and previously presented to it were not true, or that the delinquent receivables are in fact collectible, or that the delinquent receivables have become collectible. Nothing in this subsection shall preclude a person to whom restitution is owed from pursuing collection of the debt.
As used in this section, "delinquent receivables" means fines, restitution, monetary assessments, fees, surcharges, penalties, sanctions, court costs, and other payment that is past due.
(c) The University of Hawaii, from time to time, may prepare for the review of the university general counsel a list of all uncollectible accounts. Such accounts as the university general counsel finds to be uncollectible shall be entered into a special record and be deleted from the accounts receivable records of the university, which shall thereupon be relieved from any further accountability for their collection; provided that no account shall be so deleted until it shall have been delinquent for at least two consecutive years. Any account entered in the special record shall be transferred back to the current accounts receivable if the university general counsel finds that the account has become collectible.
(d) The university shall submit an annual report to the legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session, that shall summarize the types and amounts of uncollectible delinquent accounts that either were:
(1) Entered in a special record and deleted from the university's other books; or
(2) Transferred back to the university's accounts receivable. [L 1965, c 63, §1; Supp, §34-15.5; HRS §40-82; gen ch 1985; am L 1998, c 264, §1; am L 2001, c 243, §4; am L 2005, c 102, §1 and c 154, §2; am L 2006, c 38, §2]
