STAND. COM. REP. NO.911

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 1188

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1188, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SENTENCING FOR DRUGS AND INTOXICATING COMPOUNDS OFFENSES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to implement a policy shift in addressing non-violent drug possession offenses by mandating community-based supervision and treatment for certain offenders in lieu of incarceration.

The Hawaii Paroling Authority, Government Efficiency Teams, Inc., and four concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. The Department of Health, the Judiciary, the Department of Public Safety, the Public Defender, the site coordinator of the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program - Honolulu, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, T.J. Mahoney and Associates, the Community Alliance on Prisons, Out of Prison Services, and three concerned individuals testified in support of the intent of this measure. The Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, and the Honolulu Police Department testified in opposition. The Prosecuting Attorney of Maui County testified in opposition to part of the bill.

Your Committees find that public safety and public health are better served by providing treatment to non-violent substance abusing individuals in lieu of incarceration.

Your Committees further find that this measure narrowly defines the population of offenders eligible for diversion and the criteria to exclude offenders from diversion are adequate to protect the public.

Your Committees find that substance abuse treatment often involves the relapse of the addict undergoing treatment. Therefore, to allow for incarceration of an addict upon relapse when other forms of treatment are still feasible and available is inconsistent with the known characteristics of the disease of addiction and would be contrary to the intent of this measure.

Your Committees find that abusers of methamphetamine that meet the criteria for diversion contained in this measure should receive treatment in lieu of incarceration. Your Committees find that there is no objective evidence that those who abuse methamphetamine are any less amenable to treatment than those who abuse other substances. Your Committees also find that methamphetamine abusers have the same need for substance abuse treatment as abusers of other substances. Thus, it is also contrary to the intent of this measure to require a mandatory term of imprisonment for simple possession of methamphetamine that abusers of other substances are not subjected to.

Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and:

1) Inserting the contents of H.B. No. 176, H.D. 1;

2) Inserting Sections 7 and 8 from S.B. No. 879, S.D. 2., which require a report to the legislature and make an appropriation to hire a coordinator of interagency programs;

3) Substituting the appropriation language from section 9, S.B. No. 879, S.D.2, for that originally in section 12, H.B. No. 176, H.D. 1, to provide funding for substance abuse treatment programs;

4) Clarifying the language concerning the lead role of the department of health to carry out interagency coordination of substance abuse treatment and expanding the members of the interagency coordinating body from the original provisions in H.B. 176, H.D.1;

5) Adding two additional topics to be studied in conjunction with the inventory of available services and the formulation of a "best practices" guide;

6) Repealing the mandatory minimum sentence for promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree for offenses involving possession of methamphetamine found in 712-1243(3), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to avoid a possible conflict with this measure; and

7) Amending the preamble language.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1188, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1188, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair

____________________________

NESTOR GARCIA, Chair