STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3759

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2159

H.D. 2

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 Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2159, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of the Attorney General to assist with the preparation and filing of petitions for assisted community treatment and with the presentation of the case, unless declined by the petitioner;

(2) Repeal language entitling the subject of a petition for assisted community treatment to legal representation by a public defender;

(3) Provide a mechanism for the automatic screening of certain nonviolent defendants for involuntary hospitalization or assisted community treatment; and

(4) Authorize courts to require certain probation violators to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment program as a condition of continued probation.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Health, Office of the Public Defender, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, ʻOhana Health Plan, Hawaiʻi Psychological Association, and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the ACLU of Hawaiʻi and one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

Your Committee finds that individuals suffering from mental health challenges must be properly evaluated and assessed to determine what types of services they require, and what can be offered to them, whether inpatient, outpatient, or community based, upon the dismissal of a criminal case. Additionally, your Committee believes that permitting the court to divert a probation violator to mental health evaluation and treatment as a condition of continued probation rather than simply revoking the probation will provide the court with a valuable tool to both determine and address whether an individual may be having difficulty with the terms and conditions of their probation due to a mental disease, disorder, or defect. This measure will improve government response to individuals suffering from mental health challenges, particularly for those who may become or already are involved in the criminal justice system.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language providing that a judge may order that a subject be released during the pendency of a decision on a petition for assisted community treatment;

(2) Inserting language allowing the family court to appoint an attorney for the subject of a petition for assisted community treatment if the interests of justice require one be appointed;

(3) Inserting language to repeal the sunset date of June 30, 2024, for Act 111, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, which will make permanent the orders to treat over objection law in sections 334-161 and 334-162, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(4) Making it effective upon its approval; and

(5) 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 that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2159, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2159, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair