REPORT TITLE:
Property Offenses


DESCRIPTION:
Permits use of photocopies of price or name tag of goods or
printed register receipts as prima facie evidence of value and
ownership of goods and merchandise.  Includes legal owner in
definition of "owner" of propelled vehicle.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2676
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO OFFENSES AGAINST PROPERTY RIGHTS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 708-830, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "§708-830  Theft.  A person commits theft if the person does
 
 4 any of the following:
 
 5      (1)  Obtains or exerts unauthorized control over property.
 
 6           A person obtains, or exerts control over, the property
 
 7           of another with intent to deprive the other of the
 
 8           property.
 
 9      (2)  Property obtained or control exerted through deception.
 
10           A person obtains, or exerts control over, the property
 
11           of another by deception with intent to deprive the
 
12           other of the property.
 
13      (3)  Appropriation of property.  A person obtains, or exerts
 
14           control over, the property of another [which] that the
 
15           person knows to have been lost or mislaid[,] or to have
 
16           been delivered under a mistake as to the nature or
 
17           amount of the property, the identity of the recipient,
 
18           or other facts, and, with the intent to deprive the
 
19           owner of the property, the person fails to take
 

 
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 1           reasonable measures to discover and notify the owner.
 
 2      (4)  Obtaining services by deception.  A person
 
 3           intentionally obtains services, known by the person to
 
 4           be available only for compensation, by deception, false
 
 5           token, or other means to avoid payment for the
 
 6           services.  [Where] When compensation for services is
 
 7           ordinarily paid immediately upon the rendering of them,
 
 8           absconding without payment or offer to pay is prima
 
 9           facie evidence that the services were obtained by
 
10           deception.
 
11      (5)  Diversion of services.  Having control over the
 
12           disposition of services of another to which a person is
 
13           not entitled, the person intentionally diverts those
 
14           services to the person's own benefit or to the benefit
 
15           of a person not entitled thereto.
 
16      (6)  Failure to make required disposition of funds.
 
17           (a)  A person intentionally obtains property from
 
18                anyone upon an agreement, or subject to a known
 
19                legal obligation, to make specified payment or
 
20                other disposition, whether from the property or
 
21                its proceeds or from the person's own property
 
22                reserved in equivalent amount, and deals with the
 
23                property as the person's own and fails to make the
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                required payment or disposition.  It does not
 
 2                matter that it is impossible to identify
 
 3                particular property as belonging to the victim at
 
 4                the time of the defendant's failure to make the
 
 5                required payment or disposition.  A person's
 
 6                status as an officer or employee of the government
 
 7                or a financial institution is prima facie evidence
 
 8                that the person knows the person's legal
 
 9                obligations with respect to making payments and
 
10                other dispositions.  If the officer or employee
 
11                fails to pay or account upon lawful demand, or if
 
12                an audit reveals a falsification of accounts, it
 
13                shall be prima facie evidence that the officer or
 
14                employee has intentionally dealt with the property
 
15                as the officer's or employee's own.
 
16           (b)  A person obtains personal services from an
 
17                employee upon agreement or subject to a known
 
18                legal obligation to make a payment or other
 
19                disposition of funds to a third person on account
 
20                of the employment, and the person intentionally
 
21                fails to make the payment or disposition at the
 
22                proper time.
 
23      (7)  Receiving stolen property.  A person intentionally
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           receives, retains, or disposes of the property of
 
 2           another, knowing that it has been stolen, with intent
 
 3           to deprive the owner of the property.  It is prima
 
 4           facie evidence that a person knows the property to have
 
 5           been stolen if, being a dealer in property of the sort
 
 6           received, the person acquires the property for a
 
 7           consideration [which] that the person knows is far
 
 8           below its reasonable value.
 
 9      (8)  Shoplifting.
 
10           (a)  A person conceals or takes possession of the goods
 
11                or merchandise of any store or retail
 
12                establishment, with intent to defraud.
 
13           (b)  A person alters the price tag or other price
 
14                marking on goods or merchandise of any store or
 
15                retail establishment, with intent to defraud.
 
16           (c)  A person transfers the goods or merchandise of any
 
17                store or retail establishment from one container
 
18                to another, with intent to defraud.
 
19                The unaltered price or name tag or other marking
 
20           on goods or merchandise, [or] duly identified
 
21           photographs or photocopies thereof, or printed register
 
22           receipts, shall be prima facie evidence of value and
 
23           ownership of such goods or merchandise.  Photographs of
 

 
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 1           the goods or merchandise involved, duly identified in
 
 2           writing by the arresting police officer as accurately
 
 3           representing such goods or merchandise, shall be deemed
 
 4           competent evidence of the goods or merchandise involved
 
 5           and shall be admissible in any proceedings, hearings,
 
 6           and trials for shoplifting, to the same extent as the
 
 7           goods or merchandise themselves."
 
 8      SECTION 2.  Section 708-836, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 9 amended by amending subsection (4) to read as follows:
 
10      "(4)  For the purposes of this section, "owner" means the
 
11 registered owner of the propelled vehicle or the unrecorded owner
 
12 of the vehicle pending transfer of ownership[.]; provided that if
 
13 there is no registered owner of the propelled vehicle or
 
14 unrecorded owner of the vehicle pending transfer of ownership,
 
15 "owner" means the legal owner."
 
16      SECTION 3.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that
 
17 matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were
 
18 begun, before its effective date.
 
19      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
20 New statutory material is underscored.
 
21      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
22 
 
23                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________