STAND. COM. REP. NO.  399

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

RE:   H.B. No. 950

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 950 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMITTED PERSONS ON FURLOUGH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require certain inmates on furlough who are employed to support their dependent children, to provide restitution for victims of crime, and satisfy their obligations to the courts and the corrections system.  Specifically, this measure establishes priorities for the allocation of income and specifies distribution amounts for each priority item.

The Department of Public Safety supported this measure.  The Department of the Attorney General supported the intent of this measure.

     Your Committee notes the concerns expressed by the Department of the Attorney General that specifying a child support withholding amount jeopardizes both the State's ability to comply with the requirements of federal child support law and the effective operations of the Child Support Enforcement Agency.  Your Committee respectfully requests that any further consideration of this measure take into account the Attorney General's concerns.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring that an employed inmate on furlough pay an unspecified percentage of net monthly earnings, or the amount ordered, whichever is less, for child support; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 950, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 950, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair