STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2790

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2556

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2556, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COMMUNITY OUTREACH COURT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to permanently establish the Community Outreach Court as a division of the District Court of the First Circuit and appropriate moneys to continue its operation through the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions, Office of the Public Defender, Judiciary, Department of Law Enforcement, Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, Partners In Care, National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaii, and Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition.

Your Committee finds that Act 55, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, formalized a community court outreach project to adjudicate cases of homeless persons charged with nonviolent offenses. Your Committee recognizes the success of the outreach project, as it has addressed more than ten thousand cases, recalled more than nine hundred bench warrants, lifted more than six thousand driver license stoppers, and assisted more than six hundred participants access social services or referrals. Accordingly, your Committee finds it appropriate to permanently establish a community outreach court.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing all of the measure's appropriations to unspecified amounts;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(3) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2556, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2556, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair