STAND. COM. REP. NO. 353

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1141

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1141 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FORENSIC MENTAL HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Establish a one-year limit on the length of time an individual may remain on conditional release if charged with a misdemeanor, petty misdemeanor, or violation;

 

     (2)  Clarify under what circumstances the one-year conditional release status may be tolled pending an individual's hospitalization; and

 

     (3)  Require public agencies in possession of information related to a defendant's fitness to proceed to provide the information to the court.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health and Judiciary.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Kauai.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Governor commissioned a special action team in June 2012 to analyze causes and identify ideas to address the systematic factors contributing to the increased rate of admission and increased length of stay of persons admitted to the Hawaii State Hospital.  This measure is the result of the special team's efforts to improve the State's forensic mental health services. 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1141, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1141, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair