Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 91 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a task force to examine the backlog in unserved arrest warrants.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu (Prosecuting Attorney), the Honolulu Police Department, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Your Committee finds that the State has an estimated backlog of 76,881 arrest warrants that remain unserved. These unserved arrest warrants include traffic, felony, and misdemeanor warrants. These unserved warrants are costing the State a potential of $20,000,000 in unpaid fines and fees and create a public safety concern. While there are many factors that contribute to the backlog, a permanent solution must be found to ensure that the backlog can be cleared and that warrants are served in a timely manner in the future.

Your Committee has amended this measure in accordance with the testimony from the Prosecuting Attorney to change the reference from a commissioner of each county's police department to the county's chief of police.

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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 91, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 91, S.D. 1.