STAND. COM. REP. NO. 895

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 585
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which
was referred S.B. No. 585 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEXUAL OFFENDERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committees, is
to make a third offense of sexual assault in the fourth degree a
class C felony and to require as part of the sentence mandatory
sex offender treatment and a mandatory minimum prison sentence of
two years.

     Your Committees find that sex offenders suffering from
mental disorders will often begin with relatively minor offenses
that are classified as sexual assault in the fourth degree, but
will become emboldened to commit more serious offenses in the
absence of serious repercussions for their initial minor
offenses.  Further, first time sex offenders who do receive
treatment are unlikely to re-offend.  Your Committees further
find that this measure is intended to ensure that sex offenders
with a pattern of misdemeanor offenses face stricter penalties
than one-time misdemeanor offenders, and receive appropriate
treatment to prevent them from committing more serious crimes.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of Health, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
for the County of Maui, the Honolulu Police Department, and two
individuals.  Testimony in support of this measure with suggested
amendments was submitted by the Department of Public Safety, the

 
a                                                     
                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 895
                                   Page 2


Sex Abuse Treatment Center, and one individual.  Testimony in
opposition to this measure was submitted by the Office of the
Public Defender, the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, and one
individual.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting language in the purpose section relating to
          paraphilia;

     (2)  Reducing the mandatory sentence to one year; and

     (3)  Changing the requirement of mandatory treatment to
          requiring a mandatory assessment and, if recommended by
          the assessment, mandatory treatment.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to
this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and
purpose of S.B. No. 585, as amended herein, and recommend that it
pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 585,
S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.


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



____________________________       ______________________________
CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair           AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



____________________________       ______________________________
ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair             MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
a