STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1673

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   S.B. No. 540

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 540, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to establish and implement an inmate community transition program based upon the community transitional phase of the federal residential drug abuse program.  The program gradually prepares inmates for reintegration into the community and provides an incentive to join and successfully complete the program by offering a reduction of up to one-year from the inmate's minimum sentence.

     The Community Alliance on Prisons, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, Drug Policy Action Group, and several concerned individuals supported this bill.  The Department of Public Safety opposed this bill.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Making the establishment and implementation of the program discretionary, rather than mandatory;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 540, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 540, S.D. 2, H.D. 1.

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

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair