STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1635-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2347

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2347 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIME,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the Offense of Habitual Violent Misdemeanor Crime for the prosecution of persons who are convicted of three or more violent misdemeanors within five years and to be categorized as a class C felony.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Department of Law Enforcement; Honolulu Police Department; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaiʻi; Waikiki Neighborhood Board No. 9; Waikiki Improvement Association; The Institute for Human Services, Inc.; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Lodging & Tourism Association; ABC Stores; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender; Community Alliance on Prisons; Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi; and nine individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and one individual.

Your Committee finds that a pattern of conviction for intentional, habitual violent behavior correlates to a likelihood of similar repeat offenses in the future. Your Committee further finds that repeat violent offenders pose a danger to the community. This measure establishes an offense for persons who habitually commit violent offenses.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the Offense of Habitual Violent Misdemeanor Crime as follows:

(A) Renaming the offense to the Offense of Habitual Violent Crime;

(B) Including Abuse of a Family or Household Member in the list of instant offenses that triggers a habitual violent crime perpetrator to be charged for Offense of Habitual Violent Crime;

(C) Expanding the list of offenses for which prior convictions would categorize a person as a habitual violent crime perpetrator; and

(D) Specifying that a sentence of the Offense of Habitual Violent Crime is to be either an indeterminate term of imprisonment of five years with a minimum term of imprisonment of no less than one year or, for first convictions, a term of probation of five years with conditions to include one year of imprisonment;

(2) Requiring the Department of the Attorney General to submit an annual report to the Legislature before the Regular Sessions of 2025 and 2026;

(3) Requiring the prosecuting attorney of each county to provide the Department of the Attorney General with the data necessary to complete the annual report;

(4) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion;

(5) Inserting a sunset date of June 30, 2026; and

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

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. 2347, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2347, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair