STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1488

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 306

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 306, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONTINUOUS ALCOHOL MONITORING FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require persons charged with the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant or habitually operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant to be fitted with a continuous alcohol monitoring device if the person:

          (A)  Is a repeat intoxicated driver; or

          (B)  Is awaiting a criminal investigation or prosecution that is pending for one or more prior charges of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant or habitually operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant;

     (2)  Establish procedures for the use and removal of the continuous alcohol monitoring device; and

     (3)  Require that the continuous alcohol monitoring device is fitted, maintained, and monitored by a single vendor statewide and that the vendor provide partial financial relief for the costs of the monitoring devices to certain persons.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu; Police Department, City and County of Honolulu; and SCRAM Systems.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawaii, and Smart Start LLC.

     Your Committees find that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration previously reported that forty-one percent of all traffic fatalities in Hawaii were alcohol related, versus the national average of thirty-one percent.  Moreover, between 2008 and 2012, eleven percent of all alcohol-related fatalities in Hawaii involved a driver who was previously convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.  This measure seeks to decrease alcohol-related fatalities and accidents by requiring repeat offenders to be fitted with a continuous alcohol monitoring device.

     Your Committees believe that further discussion is necessary regarding whether this measure should only be limited to post convictions of the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant or habitually operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring that the single statewide vendor of the continuous alcohol monitoring devices provide financial relief, rather than partial financial relief, for the costs of the monitoring devices to certain persons;

     (2)  Inserting language to require the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu to submit a written report to the Legislature prior to the Regular Session of 2018 that provides a comparison of the effectiveness of the alcohol monitoring devices and ignition interlock devices; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 306, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 306, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair