STAND. COM. REP. NO. 845-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2505

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 H.B. No. 2505, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ASSISTED COMMUNITY TREATMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require a clinical team to identify a community mental health outpatient program to provide mental health services to a defendant if an assisted community treatment petition is granted; and

(2) Allow community mental health outpatient programs to prepare a certificate for assisted community treatment and provide the certificate to the defendant and file an assisted community treatment petition with the Family Court.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; The Institute for Human Services, Inc.; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary.

Your Committee finds that lengthy court timelines for assisted community treatment petitions impede the Department of Health's ability to transition patients efficiently from inpatient care to community‑based treatment. Your Committee further finds that the current three-month average between initial and evidentiary hearings creates delays that limit the effectiveness of stepdown assisted community treatment orders, complicate coordination with community providers, and contribute to treatment gaps for individuals with serious mental illness. Your Committee recognizes the Department's concern that establishing a shorter statutory decision timeframe would support timely patient care while protecting due process rights, and respectfully requests that subsequent committees consider this issue as the measure moves forward.

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 H.B. No. 2505, 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