STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2256

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3085

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3085 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to update the Hawaii Code of Military Justice by repealing chapter 124A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and adding a new chapter to promote order and discipline in the State Military Forces by fostering an independent military justice system and updating nonjudicial punishment and courts-martial procedures.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Defense and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Department of Hawaii. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Code of Military Justice was originally enacted in 1982. The update proposed in this measure was developed in coordination with the Judiciary and is needed to give commanders the tools they need to maintain good order and discipline within the State Military Forces while simultaneously protecting the due process rights of service members. Additionally, the changes proposed in this measure were based on a model provided by the National Guard Bureau and will bring non-judicial punishment and court-martial procedures further in line with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Your Committee believes that this measure will further develop confidence in an independent military justice system by repealing chapter 124A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and adding a new chapter to update nonjudicial punishment and courts-martial procedures and promote order and discipline in the State Military Forces.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have restricted the appellate courts' inherent judicial powers to completely review matters that come properly before the courts; 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, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3085, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3085, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair