STAND

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1307-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.R. No. 188

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.R. No. 188 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO REVIEW, ANALYZE, AND RECOMMEND CHANGES TO STATUTES, RULES, AND COUNTY ORDINANCES THAT CRIMINALIZE NON-SERIOUS OFFENSES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to request the Legislative Reference Bureau to identify, review, and analyze all statutes, other than the Hawaii Penal Code, ordinances, and rules, that criminalize non-serious conduct and are therefore inconsistent with the penalties imposed for comparable decriminalized traffic infractions.

Testimony in support of this resolution was submitted by the Judiciary, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, and a private individual. Testimony in opposition was submitted by the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu. The Legislative Reference Bureau submitted comments.

Your committee finds that there are offenses established by statutes other than the Hawaii Penal Code, including those established by rule or county ordinance, that are described as misdemeanors or petty misdemeanors and therefore must be processed by the courts as criminal offenses, even though the offenses have penalties that include only fines.

Your Committee also finds that there are other offenses that are not of a serious nature, but which have penalties that include imprisonment or fines exceeding $1,000 and therefore must be processed by the courts as criminal offenses with the attendant right to court-appointed counsel or jury trial, or both.

The inconsistent treatment of these non-serious criminal offenses and the decriminalized traffic infractions causes confusion among members of the public, who are sometimes arrested for failing to appear in response to citations even when they admitted the offense and paid a fine by mail. Public perception of the fairness of the judicial system is enhanced when the penalties for violations of statutes, rules, or ordinances for non-serious offenses are more uniform throughout the State.

Your Committee has made technical amendments to this resolution to clarify that, in identifying, reviewing, and analyzing criminal offenses outside of the Hawaii Penal Code, the Legislative Reference Bureau is to consider whether the sanctioned conduct, in a common sense, plain meaning application of the provision, is non-serious.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 188, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 188, H.D. 1.

 

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

 

		____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair