HCR51

WHEREAS, the war on drugs has been found to be a racist campaign that is devastating and destroying immigrant, indigenous, and low-income individuals, families, and communities; and

WHEREAS, the same findings were made about the impact on the war on drugs in Hawaii in the 2010 "The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System" report from the Office of the Hawaiian Affairs; and

WHEREAS, mass incarceration is significantly worsened by the war on drugs, which includes the criminalization of cannabis possession; and

WHEREAS, the prosecution of cannabis offenses has deprived people of accessing higher education, housing, employment, individual liberty, and the right to vote; and

WHEREAS, on October 6, 2022, President Biden pardoned six thousand five hundred people convicted between 1992 and 2021 of federal cannabis possession, as well as thousands more who were convicted of cannabis possession in the District of Columbia; and

WHEREAS, President Biden also urged governors throughout the country to follow his lead and provide similar legal relief for those who have entered the criminal justice system for cannabis convictions; and

WHEREAS, as of January 2023, numerous states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized and legalized adult-use recreational cannabis, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington; and

WHEREAS, in enacting programs to legalize adult-use recreational cannabis, many of these states have instituted expungement or other forms of clemency and record clearance for individuals who have been prosecuted for cannabis-related offenses; and

WHEREAS, Illinois enacted the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act in 2019, which allowed the state to automatically grant clemency to residents who were convicted for possessing up to thirty grams of cannabis, and authorized a person to petition a court to rescind the charges if they were convicted of possessing between thirty and five hundred grams of cannabis; and

WHEREAS, in 2019, New Hampshire enacted House Bill 399, which provided an opportunity for those convicted of offenses involving the possession of three-quarters of one ounce of cannabis or less to petition the court to have their convictions annulled; and

WHEREAS, Washington vacated misdemeanor cannabis convictions in 2019, and Delaware implemented a measure in 2017 that provided for automatic expungement of both conviction and arrest records for those who were charged or convicted of certain cannabis offenses prior to December 18, 2015; and

WHEREAS, in November of 2022, Governor Brown of Oregon announced her intent to pardon over forty-seven thousand Oregonians with low-level cannabis convictions; and

WHEREAS, the Oregon pardon program will eliminate barriers for thousands of people seeking employment, housing, and educational opportunities who would have otherwise been ineligible; and

WHEREAS, The Last Prisoner Project, a leading national nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform, has stated that the Governor has the legal authority to undertake a targeted relief and clemency program for individuals in Hawaii who have been prosecuted for cannabis-related offenses; and

WHEREAS, The Last Prisoner Project and Hawaii Innocence Project are prepared to assist the Governor and Attorney General in facilitating a clemency program for people who have been prosecuted for cannabis related offenses; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the Senate concurring, that the Governor is urged to initiate a clemency program for individuals who have been prosecuted for cannabis-related offenses; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is urged to seek the assistance of The Last Prisoner Project and Hawaii Innocence Project in implementing a clemency program for individuals who have been prosecuted for cannabis-related offenses; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Attorney General, Director of Public Safety, Executive Director of The Last Prisoner Project, and Co-Directors of the Hawaii Innocence Project.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Cannabis Related Offenses; Clemency; Pardon

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	51
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII