STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2815

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2884

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2884, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PAROLE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the laws relating to the administration of parole.

     Specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Requires that funds disbursed to prison inmates upon discharge or parole be subject to legislative appropriation;

     (2)  Prohibits the Hawaii Paroling Authority from granting early discharge to an inmate or parolee if the inmate is serving any portion of a court-ordered mandatory minimum sentence or the inmate or parolee owes restitution for an unexpired term; and

     (3)  Makes discretionary the Hawaii Paroling Authority's decision to consider recommending a complete pardon to a prisoner who has been on parole for five years.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, the Community Alliance on Prisons, and three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that this measure would provide necessary clarifications to applicable statutes and include appropriate community protections.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2884, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2884, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair