REPORT TITLE: 
Terrorism


DESCRIPTION:
Provides for protections and penalties for the threat of use of
weapons of mass destruction.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D.1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
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                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO TERRORISM.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the threat of
 
 2 terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, including
 
 3 chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological agents, is a
 
 4 significant public safety concern.  The legislature also
 
 5 recognizes that terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction
 
 6 could result in an intentional disaster placing Hawaii residents
 
 7 in great peril.  The legislature further finds it necessary to
 
 8 sanction the possession, manufacture, use, and threatened use of
 
 9 chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological weapons, as well
 
10 as the intentional use or threatened use of industrial or
 
11 commercial chemicals as weapons against persons or animals.
 
12      The purpose of this Act is to prohibit any person, with
 
13 specified exceptions, from possessing, developing, manufacturing,
 
14 producing, transferring, acquiring, or retaining any weapon of
 
15 mass destruction.
 
16      SECTION 2.  Section 707-701, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
17 amended by adding seven new definitions to be be appropriately
 
18 inserted and to read as follows:
 
19      ""Chemical warfare agents" includes the following weaponized
 
20 agents, or any analog of these agents:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Nerve agents, including Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), Soman
 
 2           (GD), GF, and VX;
 
 3      (2)  Choking agents, including Phosgene (CG) and Diphosgene
 
 4           (DP);
 
 5      (3)  Blood agents, including Hydrogen Cyanide (AC), Cyanogen
 
 6           Chloride (CK), and Arsine (SA); and
 
 7      (4)  Blister agents, including mustards (H, HD (sulfur
 
 8           mustard), HN-1, HN-2, HN-3 (nitrogen mustard)),
 
 9           arsenicals, such as Lewisite (L), urticants, such as
 
10           CX; and incapacitating agents, such as BZ.
 
11      "Nuclear or radiological agents" includes any improvised
 
12 nuclear device (IND), which is any explosive device designed to
 
13 cause a nuclear yield; any radiological dispersal device (RDD),
 
14 which is any explosive device utilized to spread radioactive
 
15 material; or a simple radiological dispersal device (SRDD), which
 
16 is any act or device designed to release radiological material as
 
17 a weapon without an explosion.
 
18      "Vector" means a living organism or a molecule, including a
 
19 recombinant molecule, or a biological product that may be
 
20 engineered as a result of biotechnology, that is capable of
 
21 carrying a biological agent or toxin to a host.
 
22      "Weapon of mass destruction" means chemical warfare agents,
 
23 weaponized biological or biologic warfare agents, nuclear agents,
 

 
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 1 radiological agents, or the intentional release of industrial
 
 2 agents as a weapon.
 
 3      "Weaponization" means the deliberate processing,
 
 4 preparation, packaging, or synthesis of any substance for use as
 
 5 a weapon or munition.
 
 6      "Weaponized agents" means those agents or substances
 
 7 prepared for dissemination through any explosive, thermal,
 
 8 pneumatic, or mechanical means.
 
 9      "Weaponized biological or biologic warfare agents" include
 
10 weaponized pathogens, such as bateria, viruses, rickettsia,
 
11 yeasts, fungi, or genetically engineered pathogens, toxins,
 
12 vectors, and endogenous biological regulators (EBRs)."
 
13      SECTION 3.  Chapter 707, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
14 by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read
 
15 as follows:
 
16                    "PART    . TERRORISTIC ACTS
 
17      §707-      Scope.(1) The intentional release of a
 
18 dangerous chemical or hazardous material generally utilized in an
 
19 industrial or commercial process shall be considered use of a
 
20 weapon of mass destruction when a person knowingly uses those
 
21 agents with the intent to cause harm and the use places persons
 
22 or animals at risk of serious injury, illness, or death, or
 
23 endangers the environment.
 

 
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 1      (2)  The lawful use of chemicals for legitimate mineral
 
 2 extraction, industrial, agricultural, or commercial purposes is
 
 3 not prohibited under this part.
 
 4      (3)  No university, research institution, private company,
 
 5 individual, or hospital engaged in scientific or public health
 
 6 research, and registered with the Centers for Disease Control and
 
 7 Prevention (CDC) pursuant to part 113 (commencing with section
 
 8 113.1) of subchapter E of chapter 1 of title 9 or pursuant to
 
 9 part 72 (commencing with section 72.1) of subchapter E of chapter
 
10 1 of title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or any
 
11 successor provisions, shall be subject to this part.
 
12      §707-     Weapons of mass destruction; prohibition and
 
13 penalties.(1)  Any person, without lawful authority, who
 
14 possesses, develops, manufactures, produces, transfers, acquires,
 
15 or retains any weapon of mass destruction, shall be guilty of a
 
16 class C felony; provided that any person who has been previously
 
17 convicted under this section shall be guilty of a class A felony.
 
18      (2)  Any person who uses or directly employs against another
 
19 person a weapon of mass destruction in a form that may cause
 
20 widespread, disabling illness, or injury in human beings shall be
 
21 guilty of a felony for which the defendant shall be sentenced to
 
22 imprisonment as provided in section 706-656.
 

 
 
 
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 1      (3)  Any person who uses a weapon of mass destruction in a
 
 2 form that may cause widespread damage to and disruption of the
 
 3 water or food supply shall be guilty of a class C felony and
 
 4 subject to a fine of not more than $100,000.
 
 5      (4)  Any person who maliciously uses a weapon of mass
 
 6 destruction against animals or crops in a form that may cause
 
 7 widespread and substantial diminution in the value of stock
 
 8 animals or crops shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to
 
 9 a fine of not more than $100,000.
 
10      (5)  Any person who uses a weapon of mass destruction in a
 
11 form that may cause widespread and significant damage to public
 
12 natural resources, including coastal waterways and beaches,
 
13 public parkland, surface waters, ground water, and wildlife,
 
14 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
 
15      (6)  Any person who uses recombinant technology or any other
 
16 biological advance to create new pathogens or more virulent forms
 
17 of existing pathogens for the purposes specified in this section,
 
18 shall be guilty of a class C felony.
 
19      (7)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent
 
20 punishment pursuant to any other provision of law that imposes a
 
21 greater or more severe punishment.
 
22      (8)  Any person who knowingly threatens to use a weapon of
 
23 mass destruction, with the specific intent that the statement,
 

 
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 1 made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic
 
 2 communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there
 
 3 is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and
 
 4 under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal,
 
 5 immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a
 
 6 gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the
 
 7 threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in
 
 8 sustained fear for that person's own safety, or for that person's
 
 9 immediate family's safety, which results in an isolation,
 
10 quarantine, or decontamination effort, shall be guilty of a class
 
11 C felony.
 
12      (9)  For the purposes of this section, "sustained fear" can
 
13 be established by conduct such as evacuation of any building by
 
14 any occupant, evacuation of any school by any employee or
 
15 student, evacuation of any home by any resident or occupant, or
 
16 any other action taken in direct response to the threat to use a
 
17 weapon of mass destruction.
 
18      (10)  The fact that the person who allegedly violated this
 
19 section did not actually possess a biological agent, toxin, or
 
20 chemical weapon does not constitute a defense to the crime
 
21 specified in this section.
 
22      §707-    Biological agents.  (1)  Any person or entity
 
23 possessing any of the restricted biological agents enumerated in
 

 
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 1 subsection (2) shall be punished by a fine of not more than
 
 2 $250,000, imprisonment for four, eight, or twelve years, or by
 
 3 both fine and imprisonment.
 
 4      (2)  For the purposes of this section, "restricted
 
 5 biological agents" means the following:
 
 6      (a)  Viruses:  Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus,
 
 7           eastern equine encephalitis virus, ebola viruses,
 
 8           equine morbilli virus, lassa fever virus, marburg
 
 9           virus, Rift Valley fever virus, South African
 
10           hemorrhagic fever viruses (Junin, Machupo, Sabia,
 
11           Flexal, Guanarito), tick-borne encephalitis complex
 
12           viruses, variola major virus (smallpox virus),
 
13           Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, viruses causing
 
14           hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and yellow fever virus;
 
15      (b)  Bacteria:  bacillus anthracis (commonly known as
 
16           anthrax), brucella abortus, brucella melitensis,
 
17           brucella suis, burkholderia (pseudomonas) mallei,
 
18           burkholderia (pseudomonas) pseudomallei, clostridium
 
19           botulinum, francisella tularensis, yersinia pestis
 
20           (commonly known as plague);
 
21      (c)  Rickettisae:  coxiella burnetii, rickettsia prowazekii,
 
22           rickettsia rickettsii;
 
23      (d)  Fungi:  coddidioides immitis; and
 

 
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 1      (e)  Toxins:  abrin, aflatoxins, botulinum toxins,
 
 2           clostridium perfringens, epsilon toxin, conotoxins,
 
 3           diacetoxyscirpenol, ricin, saxitoxin, shigatoxin,
 
 4           staphylococcal enterotoxins, tetrodotoxin, and T-2
 
 5           toxin.
 
 6      (3)  This section shall not apply to:
 
 7      (a)  Any physician, veterinarian, pharmacist, or licensed
 
 8           medical practitioner authorized to dispense a
 
 9           prescription; or
 
10      (b)  Universities, research institutions, or pharmaceutical
 
11           corporations, or any person possessing the agents
 
12           pursuant to a lawful prescription issued by a person,
 
13 if the person possesses vaccine strains of the viral agents Junin
 
14 virus strain #1, Rift Valley fever virus strain MP-12, Venezuelan
 
15 equine encephalitis virus strain TC-83 and yellow fever virus
 
16 strain 17-D; any vaccine strain described in section 78.1 of
 
17 subpart A of part 78 of subchapter C of chapter 1 of title 9 of
 
18 the Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor provisions, and
 
19 any toxin for medical use, inactivated for use as vaccines, or
 
20 toxin preparation for biomedical research use at a median lethal
 
21 dose for vertebrates of more than 100 ng/kg, as well as any
 
22 national standard toxin required for biologic potency testing as
 
23 described in part 113 (commencing with section 113.1) of
 

 
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 1 subchapter E of chapter 1 of title 9 of the Code of Federal
 
 2 Regulations, or any successor provisions; and
 
 3      (4)  For the purposes of this section, no person shall be
 
 4 deemed to be in possession of an agent if the person is naturally
 
 5 exposed to, or innocently infected or contaminated with, the
 
 6 agent.
 
 7      (5)  Any authorized first responder who encounters any of
 
 8 the restricted agents mentioned above shall immediately notify
 
 9 and consult with a local public health officer to ensure proper
 
10 consideration of any public health risk."
 
11      SECTION 4.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that
 
12 matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that we
 
13 begun, before its effective date.
 
14      SECTION 5.  New statutory material is underlined.
 
15      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.