HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2654

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

Relating to Victim restitution.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  In 2012, the legislature enacted the justice reinvestment initiative, Act 139, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, to reduce corrections spending, increase efficiency, decrease recidivism, and increase offender accountability through data-driven strategies.  One justice reinvestment initiative data-driven strategy to increase offender accountability was to increase the amount of restitution collected from all inmates with unpaid restitution orders.  Section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, was amended to increase the amount of restitution collected from inmates from ten per cent of inmate earnings to twenty-five per cent of all inmate earnings, deposits, and credits.  The legislature intended the amendment to apply to all unpaid restitution orders.

     While it was the legislature's intent that crime victims achieve financial justice through increased restitution collection, the collection of twenty-five per cent from inmates' earnings, deposits, and credits has not been uniformly applied to all inmates in all correctional facilities.

     The legislature finds that some courts have ordered restitution payments of less than twenty-five per cent of all inmate earnings, deposits, and credits and that the department of public safety had been advised to comply with the court orders instead of section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statute.  The legislature further finds that the department of public safety was also advised that the twenty-five per cent deduction of all inmate earnings, deposits, and credits could not be applied to sentences imposed prior to July 1, 2012, the effective date of the amendment to section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  These limitations to the application of section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, are contrary to the legislature's intent, which was to increase the collection of restitution from all inmates.

     The purpose of this Act is to clarify that twenty-five per cent of inmate earnings, deposits, and credits shall be deducted to satisfy victim restitution orders and that amount shall not be lowered by any other existing statute or court order.  This Act also clarifies that the twenty-five per cent deduction shall apply to all restitution orders imposed prior to the effective date of this Act.  While the Supreme Court of Hawaii has not addressed the ex post facto issue raised by a retroactive application of the statute, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Quarles v. Kane, 482 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2007), found that the ex post facto prohibition is not implicated when the rate of payment, and not the amount of restitution, is modified.

     SECTION 2.  Section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§353-22.6  Victim restitution.  The director of public safety shall enforce victim restitution orders against all moneys earned by the inmate or deposited or credited to the inmate's individual account while incarcerated.  [The] Notwithstanding any other law or court order to the contrary, the amount deducted shall be twenty-five per cent of the total of all moneys earned, new deposits, and credits to the inmate's individual account.  The moneys intended for victim restitution shall be deducted monthly and paid to the victim once the amount reaches $25, or annually, whichever is sooner.  This section shall not apply to moneys earned on work furlough pursuant to section 353-17."

     SECTION 3.  Section 706-646, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (3) to read as follows:

     "(3)  In ordering restitution, the court shall not consider the defendant's financial ability to make restitution in determining the amount of restitution to order.  The court, however, shall consider the defendant's financial ability to make restitution for the purpose of establishing the time and manner of payment.  The court shall specify the time and manner in which restitution is to be paid[.]; provided that the court's order shall comply with the requirements of section 353-22.6.  Restitution shall be a dollar amount that is sufficient to reimburse any victim fully for losses, including but not limited to:

    (a)   Full value of stolen or damaged property, as determined by replacement costs of like property, or the actual or estimated cost of repair, if repair is possible;

    (b)   Medical expenses; and

    (c)   Funeral and burial expenses incurred as a result of the crime."

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall apply to orders for restitution in effect on and entered after the effective date of this Act.

     SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2014; provided that the amendment made to section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by this Act shall be repealed when section 353-22.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is reenacted on July 1, 2018, by section 14 of Act 139, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, as amended by section 2 of Act 67, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Crime Victim Compensation; Restitution

 

Description:

Clarifies the director of public safety's authority to deduct 25% of all moneys earned, new deposits, and credits to an inmate's individual account for restitution.

 

 

 

 

 

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