STAND. COM. REP. NO. 174

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 108

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 108 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require law enforcement agencies, including county police departments, to make personnel knowledgeable in and implement the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion approach.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Community Alliance on Prisons; Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii; FACE; Harm Reduction Hawaii; Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Hoomana Pono, LLC; IHS, The Institute for Human Services, Inc.; The Salvation Army; YWCA Oahu; Mental Health America of Hawaii; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii; The CHOW Project; Action with Aloha; Hawaii Youth Services Network; Young Progressives Demanding Action; and twenty-five individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Public Safety and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness.

 

Your Committee finds that reducing the criminal behavior of individuals engaged in low-level offenses is a worthwhile endeavor that will improve public safety and order.  The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) concept, originating in Seattle in 2011, is an approach to addressing the criminal behavior of individuals engaged in low-level offenses that has shown great early success in a number of jurisdictions across the country.  The LEAD approach allows law enforcement officers to refer willing low-level offenders to social, psychological, or civil legal services as an alternative to arrest.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 108 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair