Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes > Chapter 12 - Primary Elections

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Ballot: includes :

  (1) A ballot summary reflecting a complete record of the ballot selections made by a voter utilizing an HTML ballot or similar accessible ballot that produces a ballot summary;

  (2) A voter verifiable paper audit trail in the event there is a discrepancy between a voting machine's electronic record of the voted ballot and the voter verifiable paper audit trail; and

  (3) A ballot used in an election by mail pursuant to part VIIA, including a ballot approved for electronic transmission. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1

• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the board of water supply or water board of any county. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Business day: means any day excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and state or federal holidays. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1
• Capital improvements: means the acquisition of real property, improvements to expand capacity and serviceability of existing public facilities, and the development of new public facilities. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Closing hour of voting: means 7:00 p. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Council: means the county council. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-162
• county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
• Credits: means the present value of past or future payments or contributions, including, but not limited to, the dedication of land or construction of a public facility made by a developer toward the cost of existing or future public facility capital improvements, except for contributions or payments made under a development agreement pursuant to § 46-123. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of education. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302A-101
• Developer: means a person, corporation, organization, partnership, association, or other legal entity constructing, erecting, enlarging, altering, or engaging in any development activity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Development: means any artificial change to real property that requires a grading or building permit as appropriate, including, but not limited to, construction, expansion, enlargement, alteration, or erection of buildings or structures. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Development rights: means the rights permitted for a lot, parcel, or area of land under a zoning ordinance or local law respecting permissible use, area, density, bulk, or height of improvements thereon. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-162
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• District: means , unless otherwise specified, the district of political representation associated with a state representative. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1
• Electronic transmission: means the transmission of a blank or voted ballot by facsimile or electronic mail delivery, or the use of an online absentee ballot delivery and return system, which may include the ability to mark the ballot. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Impact fees: means the charges imposed upon a developer by a county or board to fund all or a portion of the public facility capital improvement costs required by the development from which it is collected, or to recoup the cost of existing public facility capital improvements made in anticipation of the needs of a development. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• month: means a calendar month; and the word "year" a calendar year. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-20
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Needs assessment study: means a study required under an impact fee ordinance that determines the need for a public facility, the cost of development, and the level of service standards, and that projects future public facility capital improvement needs; provided that the study shall take into consideration and incorporate any relevant county general plan, development plan, or community plan. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• oath: includes a solemn affirmation. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-21
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Person: means an individual, group, partnership, firm, association, corporation, trust, governmental agency, governmental official, administrative body, or tribunal or any form of business or legal entity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-122
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Proportionate share: means the portion of total public facility capital improvement costs that is reasonably attributable to a development, less:

  (1) Any credits for past or future payments, adjusted to present value, for public facility capital improvement costs made or reasonably anticipated to be contributed by a developer in the form of user fees, debt service payments, taxes, or other payments; or

  (2) Offsets for non-site related public facility capital improvements provided by a developer pursuant to county land use provisions. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141

• Provisional ballot: means a ballot and any accompanying materials issued to a voter that are segregated for review and subsequent determination of validity, in accordance with eligibility criteria and other requirements of law. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1
• Public facility capital improvement costs: means costs of land acquisition, construction, planning and engineering, administration, and legal and financial consulting fees associated with construction, expansion, or improvement of a public facility. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public schools: means all academic and noncollege type schools established and maintained by the department and charter schools governed by chapter 302D. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 302A-101
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reasonable benefit: means a benefit received by a development from a public facility capital improvement that is greater than the benefit afforded the general public in the jurisdiction imposing the impact fees. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Recoupment: means the proportionate share of the public facility capital improvement costs of excess capacity in existing capital facilities where excess capacity has been provided in anticipation of the needs of a development. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-141
• Sending district: means one or more designated districts or areas of land in which development rights may be designated for use in one or more receiving districts. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-162
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Transfer of development rights: means the process by which development rights are transferred from one lot, parcel, or area of land in any sending district to another lot, parcel, or area of land in one or more receiving districts. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 46-162
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Voter service center: means a location within the county of the voter's registration address established pursuant to section 11-109 to serve all of the following purposes:

  (1) Receive return envelopes for absentee ballots pursuant to chapter 15;

  (2) Receive return identification envelopes in an election by mail conducted pursuant to part VIIA;

  (3) Provide voting machine services for persons with disabilities pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, P. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1

• Voting system: means the use of paper ballots, electronic transmission, voting machines, elections by mail pursuant to part VIIA, absentee voting pursuant to chapter 15, or any system by which votes are cast and counted. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-1