STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3662

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.C.R. No. 4

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 4 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO AUDIT THE ASSET FORFEITURE PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Auditor to conduct a management audit of the asset forfeiture program of the Department of the Attorney General and submit its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2017.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Community Alliance on Prisons; The Drug Policy Action Group; The Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii; PJY Enterprises, LLC; and eleven individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Department of the Attorney General is responsible for operating the asset forfeiture program to administratively process forfeitures of personal property worth less than $100,000, or forfeitures of any vehicle or conveyance, regardless of value, except for real property, pursuant to chapter 712A, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  The Attorney General is authorized to dispose of property forfeited to the State through administrative or judicial proceedings.  The Attorney General distributes a portion of the forfeited currency and sale proceeds of forfeited property to the agency that seized the property and the prosecuting attorney that initiated the administrative or judicial forfeiture proceeding and deposits the remaining portion into the criminal forfeiture fund.  The distributed property is required to be used for law enforcement purposes and may be used to supplement, but not supplant, funds regularly appropriated to law enforcement agencies.

     Your Committee further finds that civil asset forfeitures have led to abuse by law enforcement and notes that it has been twenty years since the Auditor has conducted an audit of the program.  By requesting the Auditor to conduct a management audit, this measure will assist in ensuring that the civil asset forfeiture program achieves its original purpose of penalizing individuals who seek profit from illegal activities.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 4, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair