STAND. COM. REP. NO. 193

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 286

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 286 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR CAREER CRIMINAL PROSECUTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu for the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, one member of the Kauaʻi County Council, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit was created in 1979 to address the disproportionate amount of serious crimes committed by a relatively small number of multiple and repeat felony offenders, commonly known as "career criminals". The program originally provided full funding for county career criminal units. In recent years, however, the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu had to be scaled back due to insufficient funding. Your Committee believes that money spent on the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit is an efficient use of resources to combat career criminals. This measure will provide swift and effective justice to address Oahu's career criminals, reduce heavy caseloads on the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, and prevent long court delays.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of April 23, 2057, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount.  Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $747,267 for a grant-in-aid to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu for the Career Criminal Prosecution Unit.

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 S.B. No. 286, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 286, 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