Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 637 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an appropriation as a grant-in-aid to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) for the development of a non-emergency reporting system, known as 3-1-1.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, Verizon Hawaii, and American Heart Association. Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, and T-Mobile USA submitted testimony in opposition to the surcharge.

The HPD operates the 9-1-1 emergency phone system for Oahu, which handles over 1,000,000 calls annually, including calls for police, ambulance, and fire. The 9-1-1 system handles all calls for emergency services, as well as non-emergency calls (estimated at sixty-five to seventy-five per cent of all 9-1-1 calls). Examples of non-emergency calls received by the 9-1-1 system include abandoned vehicles, noise, and animal complaints.

Non-emergency calls frequently overwhelm available 9-1-1 operators, resulting in a backlog of emergency 9-1-1 calls awaiting dispatch to the appropriate emergency personnel.

The HPD is currently developing a non-emergency report system, known as 3-1-1, to relieve the 9-1-1 system of non-emergency phone calls.

This measure is intended to assist the HPD to develop the 3-1-1 system. According to testimony of the HPD, it will use existing personnel to staff the 3-1-1 call center, so no additional personnel costs will be incurred. HPD expects to save up to seventy percent of the cost of sending a patrol officer to the scene of a non-emergency request with each 3-1-1 non-emergency report that can be fully processed over the phone.

Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting the surcharge on the telephone companies, as being unnecessary.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 637, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 637, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.