STAND. COM. REP. NO.  454-16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

RE:   H.B. No. 2671

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2671 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE DATA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Chiefs of Police of the counties and law enforcement agencies of the State to provide the Department of the Attorney General with crime incident reports and other information regarding crimes that are necessary for the Attorney General to operate a statewide crime reporting program and to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

The Department of the Attorney General provided comments on this measure.

Your Committee finds that accurate, timely, and comprehensive reporting of crime data is vital to the administration of justice.  It also enables law enforcement agencies to better monitor the allocation of the agencies' scarce resources and keeps the public informed.

Crime data, however, has not been consistently or timely reported.  Reliance on the voluntary participation of law enforcement agencies to undertake data reporting has not been effective.

This measure ensures state and county agency participation in reporting crime data by assessing penalties for noncompliance with data reporting requirements.  Furthermore, this measure insures more efficient compliance with these requirements by giving the Attorney General the discretion and flexibility to tailor the content of the reported information and the manner and format of the reports.

     Your Committee has amended this measure to provide for penalties applicable to state law enforcement agencies and other county agencies that have the power of arrest and that do not comply with the Attorney General's reporting requirements.

     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. 2671, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2671, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair