STAND. COM. REP. NO. 374

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 417

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 417 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate moneys as a grant-in-aid to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu for the Victim-Witness Assistance Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that the Victim-Witness Assistance Program provides direct support services to the victims and witnesses of crimes committed in Hawaii. Your Committee further finds that the Honolulu Victim-Witness Kokua Services has developed into one of the finest services of its kind in the country, helping over four thousand crime victims. Victims are usually the key witnesses in a case and without their testimony, criminals often could not be held responsible for their actions and would remain free to hurt others in the community. Your Committee believes that increased funding is necessary to maximize the effectiveness of this important program.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2021.

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. 417, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 417, 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,

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CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair