Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2500, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to provide the Judiciary with the supplemental appropriations and authorizations for its operations and capital improvements for fiscal biennium 2005-2007 by amending the Judiciary Appropriations Act of 2005.

Your Committee provided an additional $2,710,270 in general and special funds for the Judiciary, increasing the Judiciary's total budget for fiscal year 2007 to $133,987,960. This funding will enable the Judiciary to fulfill its mission of "administering justice in an impartial, efficient, and accessible manner in accordance with the law."

Your Committee recognizes that the current probation population, which includes crystal methamphetamine users and domestic violence offenders, is increasingly failing to comply with the terms of traditional probation. The result is probation revocation and costly incarceration, contributing to the overcrowding in our correctional facilities. To address the problem, your Committee has provided seven temporary positions and $1,245,118 in special and general funds to expand the Probation Modification Project, which provides close supervision, treatment services, and immediate consequences for the violation of probation terms. The pilot program has already shown very promising results and the funding provided will allow the Judiciary to expand the program to oversee 1,257 of the most high-risk offenders.

Your Committee also included in the measure additional funding for programs as follows:

In addition to the resources provided for the Judiciary's operating requirements, your Committee appropriated $12,500,000 in capital improvement projects, including $10,000,000 to purchase land for the Kapolei Judiciary Complex, and $1,500,000 for various renovations, repairs, and improvements to Judiciary facilities statewide.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2500, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2500, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.