STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1327-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 3139

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3139, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRISIS SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a Crisis Intervention and Diversion Services Program within the Department of Health to expand existing crisis intervention and diversion services to divert persons in crisis from the criminal justice system to the health care system;

(2) Require the Department of Law Enforcement to coordinate crisis intervention training for state and county law enforcement agencies and training and certification of crisis intervention officers; and

(3) Appropriate funds for the Crisis Intervention and Diversion Services Program, crisis intervention coordinator positions, and the training and certification of crisis intervention officers.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Department of Law Enforcement; Department of Health; Office of the Public Defender; State Council on Mental Health; Hawaii Disability Rights Center; Alzheimer's Association; Hawaiʻi Primary Care Association; Opportunity Youth Action Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; AlohaCare; and Hawaiʻi Psychological Association. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Community Alliance on Prisons; Queen's Health System; and Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition.

Your Committee finds that this measure is intended to assist persons experiencing mental health or substance use crises by providing training for law enforcement officers on how to safely interact with these persons and divert them to appropriate health care services, rather than incarcerate them.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring crisis intervention officers to be train and certified in mental health and co-occurring disorders involving substance use disorders for first aid and the crisis intervention team model;

(2) Permanently exempting the three crisis intervention coordinator positions in the Department of Law Enforcement from civil service laws;

(3) Clarifying the process for initiating an emergency admission; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3139, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3139, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair