STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1052

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

 

RE:   S.B. No. 560

      S.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred S.B. No. 560, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to address the overrepresentation of persons of Hawaiian ancestry in the prison system by establishing a task force within the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to study the disparate treatment of native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups in the State's criminal justice system, and report its findings to the Legislature prior to the Regular Session of 2010.

 

     OHA, the African American Lawyers Association, Hawaii State Democratic Women's Caucus, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii testified in support of this bill.  The State Procurement Office, Office of Information Practices, Community Alliance on Prisons, and a concerned individual submitted comments.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 560, S.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

FAYE HANOHANO, Chair