Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1796 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow a person sentenced for a first-time drug offense prior to July 1, 2002 and who has a satisfactory record of drug treatment and drug abstinence to apply for resentencing under Act 161, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, as well as apply for expungement of related arrest and conviction records.

Testimony in support of the measure as submitted by the Office of the Public Defender, the Community Alliance on Prisons, and one individual. The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Kauai, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, and the Honolulu Police Department testified in opposition to the measure.

Your Committee finds that this measure is designed to afford offenders who were not eligible for sentencing under Act 161, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, an opportunity for resentencing under that Act, provided that the offender is able to demonstrate a satisfactory record of drug treatment and drug abstinence. It is your Committee's hope that these provisions will provide incentives for first-time offenders to comply with treatment and remain drug free.

Your Committee has amended this measure by requiring that an individual applying for resentencing under Act 161, in addition to demonstrating a satisfactory record of drug treatment and drug abstinence, also have no criminal convictions between the date of the person's sentencing for the first-time drug offense and the date of the application for resentencing.

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. 1796, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1796, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.