HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2317

TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO FALSE CLAIMS TO THE STATE.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 661-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  Notwithstanding section 661-7 to the contrary, any person who:

     (1)  Knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval;

     (2)  Knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim;

     (3)  Has possession, custody, or control of property or money used, or to be used, by the State and, intending to defraud the State or to wilfully conceal the property, delivers, or causes to be delivered, less property than the amount for which the person receives a certificate or receipt;

     (4)  Is authorized to make or deliver a document certifying receipt of property used, or to be used by the State and, intending to defraud the State, makes or delivers the receipt without completely knowing that the information on the receipt is true;

     (5)  Knowingly buys, or receives as a pledge of an obligation or debt, public property from any officer or employee of the State who is not lawfully authorized to sell or pledge the property;

     (6)  Knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the State, or knowingly conceals, or knowingly and improperly avoids or decreases an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the State;

     (7)  Is a beneficiary of an inadvertent submission of a false claim to the State, who subsequently discovers the falsity of the claim, and fails to disclose the false claim to the State within a reasonable time after discovery of the false claim; or

     (8)  Conspires to commit any of the conduct described in this subsection,

shall be liable to the State for a civil penalty of not less than $5,500 and not more than $11,000, [plus three times the amount of damages that the State sustains due to the act of that person.] except that these upper and lower limits on liability shall automatically increase to equal the civil penalty allowed under the federal False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. sec. 3729, et seq., if and as the penalties in that federal act may be adjusted for inflation as described in that act in accordance with the federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-410, plus three times the amount of damages that the State sustains because of the act of that person."

     SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

BY REQUEST


 


 

Report Title:

False Claims to the State

 

Description:

Amends false claims to the State statute by increasing penalties to maintain consistency with the federal False Claims Act and in order to comply with the federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990.  Consistency will enable the State of Hawaii to receive a larger share of recoveries where parallel federal and state false claims cases produce penalties that are shared by the federal and state governments.  Failure to maintain consistency could result in the State receiving a smaller share than would be permitted under the present model.

 

 

 

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