Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2300, H.D. 1, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the Judiciary Appropriations Act of 2003 that provided funds for the operation and capital improvement costs for the Judiciary for the fiscal biennium July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2005.

Your Committees recognize the Judiciary's efforts to increase efficiency and cut costs due to the fiscal situation of the State. The Judiciary's supplemental budget request addressed critical areas in which current levels of funding have put unacceptable limitations on the services provided by the Judiciary to those seeking assistance from the courts. Your Committees also note that a number of items from last year's biennium budget request, which were not approved last year due to the shortage of state financial resources, were included in the supplemental budget request.

Through this amended measure, your Committees demonstrate their support of the Judiciary by approving $3,046,178 of the Judiciary's supplemental budget requests, bringing the Judiciary's total budget for fiscal year 2004-2005 to $120,755,129.

Your Committees find that a top priority of the 2004 Regular Session of the Legislature has been to address the State's crystal methamphetamine, or "ice", problem. The Joint House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement's final report, issued in January 2004, found that the solution to the ice epidemic is preventing future generations from substance abuse and curing the present generation of ice users. The report also concluded that the State's Drug Court program is an effective method of intervention and a good use of resources in lieu of incarceration.

In response to the pervasive use of crystal methamphetamine, your Committee on Ways and Means passed H.B. No. 2796, which provides $1,472,419 for the expansion of Drug Court program on the neighbor islands of Maui and Hawaii. The Drug Court program has provided a cost-effective method of treating non-violent offenders and has freed up prison space in overcrowded correctional facilities for more dangerous criminals.

In the Second Judicial Circuit, your Committee on Ways and Means provided funding to help launch a Family Drug Court; this is representative of the Judiciary's intensified efforts to address child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence issues. In the Third Judicial Circuit, funding is provided to allow the Drug Court program to serve an additional twenty-five adults and sixteen juveniles.

Your Committee on Ways and Means also passed S.B. No. 3068, which continues funding for the Children's Justice Center's treatment of victims of intra-familial child abuse and juvenile sex offenders under the age of twelve.

To assist the Judiciary in carrying out its mission of administering justice in an impartial, efficient, and accessible manner in accordance with the law, your Committees have authorized funding to:

In addition to the resources provided for the Judiciary's operating requirements, your Committees provided $41,450,000 for capital improvements, including construction for the Hilo Judiciary Complex and improvements for the Juvenile Detention Home Facility.

As amended, your Committees believe that the measure provides sufficient funding to the Judiciary in the upcoming fiscal year so that it may continue to meet the judicial needs of the citizenry in a timely and compassionate manner.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2300, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2300, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.