STAND. COM. REP. NO. 9

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 722

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 722 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROPERTY FORFEITURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make the State's civil asset forfeiture process more just by:

(1) Restricting civil asset forfeiture to cases involving the commission of a felony offense where the property owner has been convicted of an underlying felony offense;

(2) Directing any forfeiture proceeds to the general fund;

(3) Amending the allowable expenses for moneys in the criminal forfeiture fund;

(4) Requiring the Attorney General to adopt rules necessary to carry out the purposes of the Hawai'i Omnibus Criminal Forfeiture Act;

(5) Amending the deadline for the Attorney General to report to the Legislature on the use of the Hawai'i Omnibus Criminal Forfeiture Act; and

(6) Establishing records requirements.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, ACLU Hawaiʻi, Community Alliance on Prisons, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Institute for Justice, and three individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaii, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Kauaʻi, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Maui, Honolulu Police Department, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the State's civil asset forfeiture process allows law enforcement agencies to seize and keep property based on suspicion that the property is connected to criminal activity. Property, such as vehicles, houses, cash, and jewelry, can be taken without the property owner having been convicted of a crime or even being formally accused of one, and the burden of proof to recover the seized property is shifted from the State to the property owner. Additionally, there is a potential incentive to improperly seize property for forfeiture, as state and county law enforcement agencies are permitted to retain all proceeds from the sale of forfeited property. This measure will make the State's civil asset forfeiture process more fair and just.

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 S.B. No. 722 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair