STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2164-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 2688

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 2688, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMPASSIONATE RELEASE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a protocol for compassionate release for certain ill or seriously debilitated incarcerated persons; and

(2) Establish a temporary working group within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop initial administrative rules to implement the protocol.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission; Community Alliance on Prisons; FAMM; Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice; Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation; Ohana Hoʻopakele; CARES; a petition with numerous individuals in support; and six individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Hawaii Paroling Authority; Crime Victim Compensation Commission; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; The Sex Abuse Treatment Center; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2688, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

CHRIS TODD, Chair