STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1264

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   S.B. No. 1484

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1484 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE GARNISHMENT OF COMMITTED PERSONS' MONEYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to help provide financial compensation for crime victims by authorizing the Department of Public Safety to garnish inmate wages to pay court ordered crime victim compensation fees.

     The Crime Victim Compensation Commission and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu supported this bill.  The Office of the Public Defender opposed this measure.

     Your Committee finds that many violent crime victims and surviving family members of victims of violent crime would be unable to afford the medical, rehabilitative, or mental health treatment they need to recover from the crime if crime victim compensation were not available.  This bill provides victims with some form of relief from the harm inflicted upon them.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1484 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs,

____________________________

CINDY EVANS, Chair