STAND. COM. REP. NO.27278

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 618

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 S.B. No. 618 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) to:

(1) Allow the Crime Victim Compensation Commission (CVCC) to transfer an award for a minor to a custodian for the benefit of the minor pursuant to the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act;

(2) Exempt Crime Victim Compensation records from public access;

(3) Allow the CVCC to provide compensation for mental health services to qualifying individuals;

(4) Redesignate "pain and suffering" compensation to an "acknowledgment award";

(5) Allow nonpayable victim restitution ordered pursuant to §§ 706-646 and 712A-18 to be deposited into the crime victim compensation special fund instead of escheating to the state general fund; and

(6) Repeal the Department of Public Safety's reporting requirements and certain specific information from the CVCC's annual reporting requirements, and require the Judiciary to submit an annual to the governor and the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Crime Victim Compensation Commission, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. The Office of Information Practices supports the intent of part of the bill with amendments. The Judiciary took no position on the measure.

Your Committee finds that the CVCC was created thirty-five years ago to reimburse expenses of victims who suffer physical or emotional injury or death as a result of a violent crime. The experience gained over the years through working with countless victims, relatives, dependents, and witnesses, provides the CVCC with insight as to how the Crime Victim Compensation laws might better compensate and protect victims, and better ways of administering Crime Victim Special Funds. This measure sets forth the CVCC's recommendations with the amendments proposed by the CVCC. The bill as amended:

(1) Deletes the contents of section three that provided an excluded CVCC records from public disclosure;

(2) Allows the CVCC to retain private counsel to pursue repayment of Crime Victim Special Funds from victims to whom compensation was paid and who subsequently receive money from civil law suits, court ordered restitution, or insurance proceeds by amending §§ 28-8.3, 351-13, and 351-64.5, HRS, in sections three, four, and nine of the bill;

(3) Provides notice in § 523A-3.5, HRS, section 11 of the bill that restitution moneys shall be deposited into the crime victim compensation special fund; and

(3) Makes conforming amendments to the purpose section.

Your Committee notes that the Office of Information Practices (OIP) issued OIP Op. Ltr. No. 03-02 at the request of the CVCC for an opinion concerning access to its records. The OIP concluded that the CVCC's records were excluded from the affirmative disclosure obligation based on § 92F-13(1)(unwarranted invasion of personal privacy) unless the information is already part of a public record, and § 92F-13(3) (frustration of a legitimate government function). Additionally, the OIP opined that CVCC records were excluded from disclosure to offenders pursuant to §§ 92F-22(2) and 92F-22(4).

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 S.B. No. 618, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 618, 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