STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2334

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3071

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 3071 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONDITIONAL RELEASE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to enable the Director of Health to petition the court in appropriate cases, on behalf of any individual served by the Department, for legal discharge from conditional release.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Director of Health and the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

     Your Committee finds that there is no limit in Hawaii for how long an individual may be on conditional release.  Individuals, many of whom are no longer appropriate for conditional release, could potentially be on conditional release for the rest of their lives.

     Your Committee further finds that enabling the Director of Health to petition the courts for discharges, where appropriate, will help to ease the overcrowding problem at the Hawaii State Hospital and protect the health and safety of the patients and staff at the hospital.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, style, and to accurately reflect existing statutory language.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3071, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3071, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair