STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1220
Honolulu, Hawaii
H.D. 3
S.D. 1
President of the Senate
Thirty-Third State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 280, H.D. 3, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COMMUNITY OUTREACH COURT,"
begs leave to report as follows:
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Human Services, Office of the Public Defender, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, State Council on Mental Health, Waikiki Neighborhood Board No. 9, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction Center, Opportunity for Youth Action Hawaiʻi Kawailoa, and five individuals.
Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.
Your Committee finds that since its inception as an independent and unfunded pilot project in 2017, the Community Outreach Court has helped more than six hundred participants, cleared nearly eleven thousand cases, lifted more than seven thousand license stoppers, and recalled more than nine hundred bench warrants. Your Committee further finds that both the community and participants have benefitted greatly from the Community Outreach Court, as the burden on law enforcement has been reduced through recalled bench warrants and penal summons that previously languished unserved, while participants who were previously unable to attend court due to financial circumstances or the inability to travel have attended court to address and resolve their cases. This measure will recognize the positive impact the Community Outreach Court has had on the community and further support the continued collaboration among the Judiciary, Office of the Public Defender, and Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu by making the Community Outreach Court permanent.
Your Committee notes the testimony from the Department of the Attorney General regarding an agreement reached between the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Office of the Public Defender, and Department of the Attorney General to remove the Attorney General and any Deputy Attorney General from the definition of prosecuting attorney in this measure, to address instances where both the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and Department of the Attorney General have different cases involving the same defendant.
Accordingly,
your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting
language that would have included the Attorney General or any Deputy Attorney
General within the definition of "prosecuting attorney";
(2) Deleting
language that would have appropriated an unspecified amount of funds for an
unspecified number of Deputy Attorney General positions tasked with duties for
the Community Outreach Court;
(3) Inserting an effective date of April 23, 2057,
to encourage further
discussion; and
(4) 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 Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 280, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 280, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,
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________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair |
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