STAND. COM. REP. NO.551

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 645

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 645 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF INCOMPETENT PERSONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to create two degrees of penal sanctions against any person who intentionally or recklessly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical or mental welfare of a person unable to care for themselves because of a physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect.

The Department of the Attorney General, the Executive Office on Aging, the State Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Honolulu Police Department, the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney, the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, and the Chair of the Governor's Committee on Elder Abuse provided testimony in favor of the measure. The Office of the Public Defender expressed concerns about the measure.

Your Committee finds that the need to expand the protection for incompetent persons to a class C felony must be balanced with the need for less vagueness in the elements of the offense of endangering the welfare of incompetent persons. The current draft of the bill does not require actual harm to occur; the mere potential for harm is sufficient to support a felony conviction. Your Committee further finds that increasing the level of offense to a class C felony requires a concomitant higher level state of mind for the defendant.

Your Committee amended this bill by:

(1) Deleting vague references to the requirement of acting in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical or mental welfare of the incompetent person;

(2) Requiring an intentional state of mind for the class C felony offense of endangering the welfare of incompetent persons;

(3) Requiring bodily injury for both degrees of the offense of endangering the welfare of incompetent persons; and

(4) Making technical and nonsubstantive changes for clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 645, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 645, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair