STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1247

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1260

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1260, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SENTENCING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to allow the court to order a defendant to submit to a presentence mental or other medical examination.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Attorney General and Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney.

 

     This measure restores the statutory provision allowing pre-sentence mental or medical examinations of defendants for the purposes of sentencing, which was inadvertently repealed by Act 112, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005 (Act 112), relating to biological evidence.  Act 112 repealed the mental and medical examination provision in section 706-603, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which also contained provisions relating to deoxyribonucleic acid collection (DNA).  Act 112 enacted a comprehensive statutory scheme for DNA collection and testing.

 

     Your Committee believes that the court should continue to have the authority to order defendants to undergo a complete mental or medical examination prior to sentencing in order to determine the type of sentence to impose.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure to take effect upon its approval.

 

     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 H.B. No. 1260, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1260, H.D. 1, 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,

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair