STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1592

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1440

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1440, H.D. 3, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify the jurisdictional authority of the Office of the Ombudsman when investigating the contractual acts of any correctional facility with which the Department of Public Safety has contracted to hold individuals committed to its custody.

 

     Your Committees find that the clarification is necessary to assure that the scope of the Ombudsman's jurisdiction includes mainland correctional facilities.  Your Committees also find that it is vital that inmates from Hawaii held in mainland correctional facilities have access to an independent body to investigate claims affecting their health, safety, and legal rights.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of the bill from the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, the Community Alliance on Prisons, and seven individuals.  The Office of the Ombudsman commented on the bill.

 

     Your Committees amended the bill by changing the effective date from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2007, and by deleting language following the effective date.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1440, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1440, H.D. 3, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair