STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2429

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2047

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2047 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 require the Judicial Council to appoint an advisory committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the Hawaii Penal Code and make recommendations to the Legislature of any necessary amendments to ensure that the penal code is consistent, in harmony with recent justice trends, and continually forceful and effective.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i and six individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary, Community Alliance on Prisons, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that H.C.R. No. 155, S.D. 1, Regular Session of 2015, requested the Judicial Council to appoint a committee to review and recommend revisions to the Hawaii Penal Code. Accordingly, the Judicial Council convened a penal code review committee comprising of twenty-nine members, who met in 2015 and recommended the legislation enacted by Act 231, Session Laws of Hawaii 2016. Your Committee finds that although review of the penal code has taken place nearly every decade, modern trends require that review occur more frequently. Therefore, your Committee finds that it is time once again for the Judicial Council to appoint a committee to review and recommend revisions to the Hawaii Penal Code.

Your Committee has amended this measure by specifying that the advisory committee shall make recommendations to the Legislature necessary to ensure that the penal code reflects best practices and data driven research, rather than ensuring that the penal code is in harmony with recent criminal justice trends.

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. 2047, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2047, 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