STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1055

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

 

RE:   S.B. No. 619

      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. 619, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VOTING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to provide an inmate facing reentry into the community with a stake in that community through the reestablishment of the right to vote by allowing incarcerated persons who were Hawaii residents at the time of their arrest and who have no more than two years left before their release from imprisonment, to vote by absentee ballot in Hawaii's elections.

 

`    The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Community Alliance on Prisons, Democratic Party of Hawaii, League of Women Voters, African-American Lawyers Association, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.  A concerned individual supported this measure with amendments. The Office of the Governor testified in opposition to this bill.  The Department of Public Safety provided 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. 619, S.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

FAYE HANOHANO, Chair