STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1670

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 184
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which
was referred S.C.R. No. 184 entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING A STUDY OF HAWAII'S
     LAWS RELATING TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution is to propose that
the Legislative Reference Bureau conduct a study of Hawaii's
relevant statutory provisions relating to domestic violence and
abuse in order to foster a better understanding of the issues or
possible solutions and to provide recommendations for a
recodification of the domestic violence and abuse laws.

     Your Committees find that over the past ten years, the
legislature has made great strides in its efforts to prevent
domestic violence.  However, piecemeal changes in the law that
are made every legislative session have resulted in contradictory
policy and inconsistent court procedures that must be corrected.
Therefore, your Committees believe that a thorough review is
needed of Hawaii's domestic violence and abuse laws to identify
loopholes and inconsistencies and that a recodification of these
laws is an important step toward stemming the tide of this
unacceptable violence in our communities.

     Testimony in support of this concurrent resolution was
submitted by the Judiciary, the Department of the Attorney
General, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Department of the
Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, the

 
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Hawaii State Coalition against Domestic Violence, the Hawaii
State Commission on the Status of Women, Child and Family
Services, and the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal
Hotline.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this concurrent resolution by:

     (1)  Deleting the word "prevention" from the title;

     (2)  Adding that bail restrictions for domestic violence
          offenders be examined in the discussion of
          recodification; and

     (3)  Deleting all references of "chairperson," "director,"
          or "executive director" and replacing it with "a
          representative of" in the provision that directs where
          certified copies of the resolution should be
          transmitted to.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that is attached to
this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose
of S.C.R. No. 184, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption
in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 184, S.D. 1.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Ways and Means,



____________________________       ______________________________
CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair           AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair


____________________________       ______________________________
ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair             MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair


 
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