STAND. COM. REP. NO. 691

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 145

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 145, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EXAMINATIONS OF FITNESS TO PROCEED,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the requirements for fitness to proceed examinations when the defendant is in custody or on release by clarifying that the defendant may, without a court order, be transferred, rather than committed, to a hospital or other suitable facility pursuant to the law regarding the transfer of residents of correctional facilities or any agreement entered into between the Department of Health and the Department of Public Safety regarding the transfer of detainees of community correctional centers, when necessary.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Public Safety.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

 

     Your Committee finds that it is important to pursue initiatives that promote the safe, effective, and efficient delivery of mental health supports and forensic evaluations.  Currently, no clearly defined criteria exist for determining whether it is necessary to transfer a defendant to a hospital to receive a pretrial forensic evaluation.  Instead, the court has discretion in the matter, but there is no mental health professional appointed at that juncture in the court proceedings to assess the level of care a defendant might need.  This measure clarifies existing law to ensure that transfers to state facilities for evaluation and treatment occur when there is a need for acute hospital level psychiatric treatment for mental illness.

 

     Your Committee notes that while the effective date of this measure is July 1, 2050, the amendments made to section 704-404(2), Hawaii Revised Statutes, are intended to become effective on July 1, 2018, to correspond with the effective date of section 5 under Act 231, Session Laws of Hawaii 2016.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 145, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair