STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1623

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.C.R. No. 155

       S.D. 1

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 H.C.R. No. 155 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL TO APPOINT A COMMITTEE TO REVIEW AND RECOMMEND REVISIONS TO THE HAWAII PENAL CODE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Judicial Council to appoint a committee to review the Hawaii Penal Code and recommend to the Legislature revisions to the Code that the committee concludes will help to ensure that sentences are fair and proportionate to the crime committed with particular attention paid to Hawaii Penal Code sections that base culpability on dollar amounts.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Crime Victim Compensation Commission; Community Alliance on Prisons; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; and three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary and Legislative Reference Bureau.

     Your Committee finds that approximately every decade since 1983, the Legislature has convened a committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the Hawaii Penal Code.  Your Committee notes that there are several concurrent resolutions that are currently moving through the legislative process that provide for a limited review concerning specified sentencing provisions of the Hawaii Penal Code.  This measure provides for a more comprehensive review of the Hawaii Penal Code that is a more prudent and cost effective mechanism to ensure that sentences are fair and proportionate to the crime committed.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language regarding other concurrent resolutions that were introduced during the Regular Session of 2015 and relate to specified sentencing provisions of the Hawaii Penal Code;

     (2)  Adopting the language suggested by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that specifies its representative be the Administrator of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs or the Administrator's designee;

     (3)  Adopting the language suggested by the Crime Victim Compensation Commission that would allow the review committee to invite more than one representative from victim advocacy groups; 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 and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 155, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 155, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair