STAND. COM. REP. NO. 875

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 619
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B.
No. 619, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PENAL RESPONSIBILITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is
to amend the definition of "physical or mental disease, disorder,
or defect" to exclude abnormalities that are attributable to the
voluntary ingestion of alcohol or any other psychoactive
substance, and to include abnormalities that grossly and
demonstrably impair a person's perception or understanding of
reality.

     Your Committee finds that the current laws relating to penal
responsibility were intended to exclude from criminal defenses
mental or physical conditions caused by a defendant's voluntary
ingestion of alcohol or drugs.  However, your Committee further
finds that there has been inconsistent interpretation among
judges as to whether a mental disorder attributable to a person's
own drug use may qualify for the defense.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of
Honolulu, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for Maui
County, and the Honolulu Police Department.  Testimony in
opposition to this measure was submitted by the Office of the
Public Defender.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 875
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     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Removing the added requirement that a physical or
          mental disease, disorder, or defect "[g]rossly and
          demonstrably impair a person's perception or
          understanding of reality," as this provision was
          unnecessary to the bill's purpose;

     (2)  Deleting the reference to psychoactive substances and
          replacing it with a reference to controlled substances
          as defined in section 329-1; and

     (3)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     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 S.B.
No. 619, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 619, S.D. 1, and
be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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