STAND. COM. REP. NO. 332-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2684

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2684 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ABUSE OF FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to authorize any police officer to take certain actions if there are reasonable grounds to believe that abuse of a household member is about to occur.

Specifically, this bill amends section 709-906(4), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to allow police officers to take the actions prescribed in that subsection when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the physical abuse or harm is about to occur, and not just when the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that abuse has already occurred.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Hawaii County, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of Maui County, and the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline. The Office of the Public Defender submitted testimony in opposition.

Your Committee finds that, in many instances of potential domestic abuse, it does not make sense to allow a police officer to take certain actions only if a police officer has reasonable grounds to believe that actual physical abuse or harm has already been inflicted on a household member. This is especially true in volatile and dynamic situations in which an officer has no reasonable grounds to believe that physical abuse or harm has already occurred but when there are reasonable grounds to believe that potential violence may ignite either in the police officer's presence or after the officer's departure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2684 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

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

 

____________________________

KEN ITO, Chair