STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1866

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: S.B. No. 410

S.D. 1

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 410, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EXPUNGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require:

(1) The Director of Transportation, Judiciary, and Examiners of Drivers to exclude dismissed traffic citations from a person's record, including the traffic abstract, and the Judiciary's publicly accessible electronic databases; and

(2) The court to automatically seal or remove from the Judiciary's publicly accessible electronic databases any information relevant to the arrest or case of a person for whom an expungement order has been entered and transmitted to the court.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Community Alliance on Prisons, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Workers Center, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary and Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that information related to arrests and cases that have been dismissed or expunged should not appear on an individual's record or publicly available government databases. Streamlining the removal of this information can improve an individual's quality of life by removing potential barriers to employment, housing, financial lending, and education.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the preamble to clarify that all law enforcement agencies will continue to have access to information regarding dismissed and expunged cases, regardless of whether those agencies utilize publicly accessible or other types of electronic databases;

(2) Deleting language that would have prohibited:

(A) The inclusion of information relating to dismissed traffic citations in the Judiciary's publicly accessible electronic databases; and

(B) The Judiciary and Examiner of Drivers from including dismissed traffic citations in a driver's record provided to certain users or their agents for enforcement purposes; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee notes that the Judiciary is requesting a one‑time appropriation of $70,000 for software code changes.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 410, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 410, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair