STAND. COM. REP. NO. 958

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1246

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1246, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize electronic monitoring and surveillance of offenders, separate from curfew, in programs that offer alternatives to incarceration.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Community Alliance on Prisons and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that overcrowding of prisons poses a significant threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the public.  Therefore, it is important to explore and implement alternatives to incarceration.  One effective alternative to incarceration that should be authorized is the use of electronic monitoring and surveillance for certain offenders who do not pose a significant risk to the community.  Your Committee, however, understands the concerns of the Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney regarding ambiguities about the use of electronic monitoring or surveillance as written in this measure that may allow offenders to be released into home detention or curfew-based programs without any electronic monitoring.  Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Re-inserting language to allow the use of electronic monitoring or surveillance for alternative incarceration curfew programs; and

     (2)  Allowing for the use of global positioning devices to monitor or surveil offenders.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1246, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1246, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair