Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1749, H.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish a criminal offense review committee in the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii.

The bill would require the review committee periodically to examine criminal offenses established by state statutes (other than the Hawaii Penal Code) and state rules to identify offenses expressly denominated or classified as petty misdemeanors or misdemeanors or for which imprisonment and fines of more than $1,000 are provided but which are considered non-serious in the plain meaning of that term. The review committee would provide the Judiciary with a list of offenses that meet the criteria set forth in the bill.

The bill then requires the Judiciary to identify any offenses that, typically, are punished only by a fine and those offenses that appear before the courts most frequently. The review committee will work with the departments and agencies responsible for administering the identified statutes and rules to see if those offenses can be decriminalized in whole or in part and recommend changes accordingly. The review committee would then recommend changes to the identified offenses that would make the penalties more consistent with the penalties imposed for decriminalized traffic infractions. Thereafter, the Legislative Reference Bureau would draft legislation implementing those recommendations for consideration at the next regular legislative session.

The bill also provides that the review committee be composed of representatives of the Judiciary, the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Attorney General, the county police and prosecutors, the county corporation counsels, the Public Defender, and the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the bill from the Judiciary and the Public Defender. The Legislative Reference Bureau submitted comments on the measure.

Your Committee has amended the bill by limiting the review process to the William S. Richardson School of Law and the Legislative Reference Bureau to make the process more efficient and manageable. Your Committee finds that this amendment will also permit the Judiciary to remain actively involved without impinging on its independent review responsibilities.

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. 1749, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1749, H.D. 2.