STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2310

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2954

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2954 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Hawaii criminal justice data center to access firearm registration data.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Honolulu Police Department, Hawaii Rifle Association, and three individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the County of Maui Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and seven individuals.

Your Committee finds that the accurate and timely sharing of firearms registration information between counties is critical to ensure the safety of the community.  Although each county currently maintains its own firearms registration information, there is no active mechanism to share this data.  The development and implementation of a system to facilitate firearms registration data would enable law enforcement agencies to access critical information more quickly when they are checking on individuals involved in an incident to which they are responding.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2954, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2954, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair