STAND

STAND. COM. REP. 581

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 1010

H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1010 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE USE OF INTOXICANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of the bill is to allow for the evidentiary admissibility of a defendant's refusal to submit to a breath, blood, or urine test for intoxication.

The Department of Transportation, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, the Honolulu Police Department, and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers testified in support of this bill. A concerned individual testified in opposition to this bill. The Office of the Public Defender provided comments.

Your Committee finds that:

(1) The Standing Committee on the Rules of Evidence considered and approved the change proposed by this measure;

(2) The change does not require the admission of this evidence but only allows it; all other evidentiary foundational requirements for admission must be met before the evidence may be admitted; and

(3) The purpose of section 219E-41(d) and (e), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), was to encourage respondents to submit to testing by punishing those who refuse to be tested. This reasoning is less compelling once the refusal itself becomes admissible.

Your Committee amended the bill by:

(1) Repealing section 291E-41(d) and (e), HRS; and

(2) Making technical and nonsubstantive changes for the purpose of style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1010, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1010, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

		____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair