HB1470

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1470
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO FORENSIC EXAMINERS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that currently, a court may order a physical or mental examination of a criminal defendant pursuant to section 704‑404, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The forensic examination process typically takes several months to complete. During this period, a pretrial defendant who may have a serious mental disease or defect will be held in state custody without receiving the appropriate mental health treatment.

According to a random sampling of ninety-one pretrial defendants gathered by the Hawaii Disability Rights Center in December 2003, an average of seventy-eight days passed from the date of arrest to the date a forensic examination was requested. An average of eighteen additional days transpired before the court issued an order for a forensic examination. Thereafter, an average of eighty-four days passed before the forensic examination report as filed and the court determined the defendant's penal responsibility. The entire forensic examination process averaged one hundred eighty days from motion to final adjudication. Thirty-five per cent of all pretrial defendants were ultimately found unfit to proceed in the proceedings and were subsequently provided mental health treatment by the State. During past legislative sessions, the legislature considered several measures that were aimed at streamlining the mental examination process.

The legislature further finds that the current compensation paid to forensic examiners is insufficient to encourage psychiatrists to perform mental health examinations. The lack of available mental health professionals has contributed substantially to the lengthy forensic examination process. Currently, forensic examiners are paid a flat fee of $500. This fee has not increased since 1992.

The legislature further finds that it is neither reasonable nor cost-efficient for a private practice mental health professional to spend a full day traveling to, interviewing, and evaluating a criminal defendant for that sum.

The purpose of this Act is to expedite the forensic examination process by increasing the fee paid to forensic examiners performing court-ordered mental health examinations of criminal defendants.

SECTION 2. Section 704-404, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (9) to read as follows:

"(9) The compensation of [~~persons~~] a person making or assisting in the examination, other than [~~those~~] a person retained by the nonindigent defendant, who [~~are~~] is not undertaking the examination upon designation by the director of health as part of [~~their~~] the person's normal duties as [~~employees~~] an employee of the State or a county, shall be paid by the State. The fee paid to a certified forensic examiner for a court-ordered mental health examination shall be $1,000 for each defendant examined, plus an amount equal to the examiner's general excise tax liability for the examination and any reasonable expenses incurred for inter-island travel."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, to increase the fee paid to forensic examiners performing court-ordered mental health examinations of criminal defendants.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the judiciary for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________