STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2472

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2198

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2198 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to extend the reentry pilot project for nonviolent, low-risk drug offenders.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Community Alliance on Prisons; and six individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Maui.

     Your Committees find that nonviolent, low-risk offenders, particularly those convicted of drug offenses, can be effectively and safely transitioned from jail or prison into the community through a comprehensive and coordinated continuum of evidence-based treatment services.  Individuals addicted to drugs can easily be caught in a cycle of incarceration from which they cannot easily escape.  Allowing such individuals access to treatment in the community benefits the individuals and serves the public interest.  Your Committees note that some low-risk offenders struggle with drug problems but were not convicted of drug-related offenses, and that such individuals should also be included in the pilot program.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Replacing references to "low-risk drug offenders" with "low-risk offenders"; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2198, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2198, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor,

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair