STAND. COM. REP. NO 3023

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2654

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2654, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VICTIM RESTITUTION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is ensure that victim restitution payments are uniformly collected from inmates at the rate of twenty-five percent of the total of all monies earned, new deposits, and credits to an inmate's individual account, notwithstanding any other law or court order to the contrary and applicable to victim restitution orders issued after the effective date of this measure.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Department of the Attorney General, Crime Victim Compensation Commission, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaii, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Kauai, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, and two individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that when an offender is held fully accountable to their crime victims, the recidivism rate is lower than that of offenders who are not held responsible.  Under existing law, victim restitution payments collected from inmates is twenty-five percent of all earnings, deposits, and credits in an inmate's individual account.  However, this collection has not been uniformly applied to all inmates due to conflicting court orders and lack of enforcement.  This measure will ensure that victim restitution payments are uniformly collected from inmates at the rate of twenty-five percent, regardless of the sentencing date, and the amount may not be lowered by any other existing law or court order.

 

     Your Committees note that this measure, as originally introduced during the Regular Session of 2014, provides that a twenty-five percent deduction of an inmate's individual account applies to all inmates regardless of the date that the sentence was imposed.  The language in H.B. No. 2654 is preferable because it ensures offender accountability and provides financial justice to victims by restoring the retroactive application of the amendment.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting its contents and inserting the contents of H.B. No. 2654, which requires victim restitution payments to be uniformly collected from inmates at the rate of twenty-five percent of the total of all monies in an inmate's individual account, notwithstanding the sentencing date and any other law or court order to the contrary; and

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2030, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2654, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2654, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair