STAND. COM. REP. NO. 188-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 2387

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2387 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE RELEASE OF MISDEMEANANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to reduce overcrowding at community correctional centers by expanding the pool of pretrial and sentenced misdemeanants who may be safely released from community correctional centers upon order of the Director of Public Safety.

The Department of Public Safety supported this measure. The City and County of Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Maui Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, The Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, and a concerned individual opposed this measure. The Judiciary, Domestic Violence Action Center, and Community Alliance on Prisons offered comments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a person shall be ineligible for release pursuant to the Director's orders based on a previous charge with, rather than arrest for, an offense involving bodily injury or threat of bodily injury to another; and

(2) Correcting a reference to sexual harassment in the fourth degree by changing the reference to sexual assault in the fourth degree.

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. 2387, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2387, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

____________________________

GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair