Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 700 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify and strengthen Hawaii's nuisance abatement law.

Specifically, this measure:

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of the Attorney General, the Office of Lieutenant Governor, and the Honolulu Police Department.

Your Committee finds that nuisance abatement actions enable residents to remove drug houses or businesses that engage in illegal drug related activity from their communities. This measure clarifies that the preponderance of the evidence standard applies to these civil actions and allows a court to issue a protective order to prevent the disclosure of the identity of a witness when there are acts or prior threats of violence made against them by the defendant or any person.

Your Committee has amended the protective order provision by limiting the scope of the protective order to defendants involved in a nuisance abatement action and who have engaged in acts of violence or made prior threats of violence against a witness. The amendment ensures that this protective order is not overly broad in scope and will not be applied to persons who are not directly involved in the threatening activity for which the protective order was issued. Additionally, your Committee has made technical, non-substantive amendments for purposes of clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 700, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 700, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.