STAND. COM. REP. NO.1029

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 1003

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1003, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIME VICTIM COMPENSATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow nonpayable restitution to be used for crime victim compensation instead of escheating to the state General Fund, and to allow a compensation award to be transferred for the benefit of a minor under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. The measure also amends chapter 351, Hawaii Revised Statutes to:

(1) Allow the Crime Victim Compensation Commission (Commission) to provide mental health services to surviving relatives in cases involving death or sexual assault, or to child witnesses or witnesses sixty years of age or older in cases involving qualifying crimes;

(2) Repeal "pain and suffering" awards and allow the commission to order "acknowledgment awards" for a victim; and

(3) Allow court ordered restitution pursuant to §§706-646 and 712A-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Crime Victim Compensation Commission, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, and the Sex Abuse Treatment Center. The Department of the Attorney General opposed parts of the measure.

Your Committee finds that the Legislature created the Commission thirty-five years ago to compensate victims of violent crimes or their survivors for unreimbursed expenses related to physical or emotional injury, or death. Your Committee further finds that over the past thirty-five years, the Commission has sought to implement improvements to better respond to the compensation needs of victims.

Your Committee further finds that the Commission should have the authority to establish trust funds for minors who are victims of violent crimes. A significant number of the Commission's cases involve physical or sexual assault of minors by their parents. In some of these cases, the nonoffending parent does not believe the crime occurred and does not protect the minor. The measure allows the Commission to establish, deposit, and hold compensation awards in trust for minors until a minor reaches the age of majority.

Nonpayable restitution consists of restitution payments that cannot be paid to the intended victim because the victim cannot be located. Currently, nonpayable restitution escheats to the state General Fund. Your Committee believes nonpayable restitution should be used to assist other crime victims.

Your Committee further finds that over half of the children who witness domestic violence against their mothers suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Mental health intervention is recommended for children and elderly violent crime witnesses. Additionally, surviving family members of murdered victims, and family members of child sexual assault victims, require mental health counseling to achieve family healing.

Your Committee further finds that victims often confuse the Commission's "pain and suffering" award with "pain and suffering" awards in civil court cases. Victims occasionally feel as though their pain and suffering is trivialized by the Commission's award. The purpose of the Commission's "pain and suffering" award, however, is to acknowledge that a victim has been harmed, and not to compensate for actual pain and suffering. Therefore, your Committee agrees that the "pain and suffering" connotation should be repealed.

Pursuant to testimony received, your Committee amended the bill by:

(1) Amending the definition of "victim" in §351-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to include a child or a person who is sixty years of age or older who witnesses a crime listed in §351-32, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and requires mental health services;

(2) Clarifying that mental health services are limited to mental health counseling services;

(3) Deleting the term "acknowledgment awards" and inserting the words "acknowledgment of harm" into §§351-33 and 351-52, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(4) Amending §351-69, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to specify that except for persons already employed by the Commission in civil service positions, persons appointed to the Commission are appointed without regard to the civil service laws, and upon those civil service positions becoming vacant, the positions will be filled by noncivil service appointments;

(5) Amending §351-70, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by repealing certain informational requirements in the Commission's report to the legislature, and requiring the Judiciary to transmit an annual report to the Governor and the Department of Public Safety detailing the Judiciary's compliance with Act 206, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998. The Judiciary report must include actual versus estimated compensation fees collected, number of eligible cases in which the fee was ordered, collected, or waived, and the criteria used for fee waiver;

(6) Deleting language in §§523A-3.5, 706-646, and 712A-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requiring restitution collected that is not payable to the victim because the victim cannot be located to be deposited into the crime victim compensation special fund, and replacing it with language requiring restitution to be deposited in the Crime Victim Compensation Special Fund if a victim cannot be located through police, Judiciary, Hawaii Paroling Authority, or Crime Victim Compensation Commission records, the victim has not been in contact with these institutions for at least one year, notification of the proposed deposit is made at least once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in this State, and the victim has at least 60 days after the last date of publication to file a claim; and

(7) Amending the purpose section to include the requirement of public notification in paragraph (1), clarify that the commission is given authority to pay for mental health counseling in paragraph (3), replacing "acknowledgment award" with "acknowledgment of harm" in paragraph (4), requiring the Judiciary to report compliance with Act 206, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998 in paragraph (5); and clarifying that the amended definition of "victim" include a child or person sixty years of age or older in need of mental health counseling services in paragraph (6); and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes.

Your Committee acknowledges that the measure includes new amendments relating to the Commission's employee classifications. Because of the proposed new amendments, the proper procedure would have been to have the measure re-referred to the Senate Committee on Labor. Because time is of the essence, however, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Labor waived jurisdiction.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1003, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1003, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair