STAND. COM. REP. NO 764

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1166

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1166, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PENAL CODE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the penal code to:

     (1)  Allow for the preparation of a corpse for burial or cremation consistent with traditional Hawaiian cultural customs and practices; and

     (2)  Allow for the burial or cremation of a corpse that has been prepared consistent with traditional Hawaiian cultural customs and practices.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies, Koolau Foundation, Koolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that this measure would help to address the confusion over whether the treatment of a corpse consistent with traditional Hawaiian cultural customs and practices would constitute a violation of the penal code.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; 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 Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1166, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1166, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair