STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3230

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2413

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2413, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRETRIAL REFORM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require release on recognizance for defendants charged with violations, traffic offenses, nonviolent petty misdemeanors, nonviolent misdemeanors, and nonviolent class C felonies, subject to conditions;

(2) Establish exclusions for specified offenses, threats to public safety, and certain other circumstances;

(3) Require findings when bail or detention is imposed, ongoing review of continued detention or conditions, and a prompt hearing if bail cannot be posted; and

(4) Require prosecutors to notify victims of pretrial decisions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, Community Alliance on Prisons, Faith Action for Community Equity, Share Your Mana, Green Party of Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice, Imua Alliance, Hawaiʻi Organization for Progress and Equity, Ohana Hoʻopakele, Hawaiʻi Community Safety Coalition, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center, ACLU Hawaiʻi, Prison Policy Initiative, and sixty-nine individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaii, Hawaii Police Department, Honolulu Police Department, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Maui, Kohala Coast Resort Association, Fairmont Orchid, Universal Fire & Casualty Insurance Company, State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, Stolen Stuff Hawaii, and twenty-five individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary and Kapiʻolani Sex Abuse Treatment Center.

Your Committee finds that unnecessary incarceration and unaffordable bail contribute to severe overcrowding in the State's jails, especially when individuals who pose no public safety risk are confined only due to financial hardship and inability to afford bail. This overcrowding has significant direct and indirect consequences, including additional strain on correctional staff, reduced access to rehabilitative programming, increased operational costs, and worsened health and safety conditions for detainees and employees alike. Your Committee notes that one of the most effective ways to mitigate the costs and harms of overcrowding is to limit pretrial detention to individuals who pose a genuine safety or flight risk. By requiring certain defendants to be released instead of held in pretrial detention, this measure preserves public safety while ensuring the efficient use of correctional resources.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Exempting the following from eligibility for pretrial release:

(A) Defendants pending trial or sentencing at the time of arrest;

(B) Defendants on probation, deferral, or conditional release at the time of arrest; and

(C) Defendants arrested, charged, or held on another offense arising from the same or a separate incident;

(2) Deleting language that would have required that defendants unable to post bail receive a prompt hearing pursuant to section 804-7.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(3) Clarifying the definition of "wilful flight"; and

(4) 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 Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2413, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2413, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs,

________________________________

CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair