STAND. COM. REP. NO. 345

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 904
                                        




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No.
904 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE EXPANSION
     OF THE VIDEO ARRAIGNMENT AND CONFERENCING SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds to expand
the video arraignment and conferencing system between
correctional facilities and the court system.

     Your Committee finds that since 1993, video conferencing
technology has allowed defendants housed at the Oahu Community
Correctional Center to participate in video arraignments.  This
program has been expanded in subsequent years to include motion
hearings and pre-sentence public defender/client interviews.
Your Committee further finds that in 1997, the First Circuit
Court arraigned 1,907 or approximately 96 percent of its custody
defendants by video conferencing technology.  This translates
into at least a $45,000 per year savings for the Department of
Public Safety as a result of reduced transportation and overtime
costs.  Your Committee believes that expanding this program to
include Halawa Correctional Facilities and Hawaii Community
Correctional Facilities would produce similar savings and
benefits.  

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Judiciary, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of the

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 345
                                   Page 2


Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, and the
Office of the Public Defender.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
904 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to
the Committee on Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary,



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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