CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT NO. 35

                            Honolulu, Hawaii
                                            , 1999

                            RE:   S.B. No. 594
                                  S.D. 1
                                  H.D. 1
                                  C.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the
Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives
in S.B. No. 594, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:  

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS," 

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to
recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final
passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this bill is to define the term "good cause"
as used in section 134-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  In cases
involving restraining orders where good cause exemption becomes
an issue, judges generally take into consideration whether the
person subject to the restraining order is required to possess or
carry a firearm during the course of the person's employment.  If
the case involves a police officer, the courts defer the granting
of exemptions to the police chief with the rationale that the
police chief would be best able to determine whether the officer
would qualify for a good cause exemption.  Within the past two
years, the courts handled thirty-one cases involving the granting

 
a                                                     
 
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of good cause exemptions, and twenty-one of those cases involved
police officers.

     Your Committee on Conference acknowledges the seriousness of
domestic violence and believes that the current law needs to be
applied consistently in all cases, regardless of whether the
person subject to a restraining order is a police officer.
Judges should not be deferring the granting of an exemption to a
police chief.

     Therefore, your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Providing that "good cause" consideration should also
          include the protection and safety of the person to whom
          a restraining order is granted;

     (2)  Making a conforming amendment by deleting the reference
          to section 134-7(f) within section 134-11(b); and

     (3)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     Your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent
and purpose of S.B. No. 594, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein,
and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached
hereto as S.B. No. 594, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.

                                   Respectfully submitted,

MANAGERS ON THE PART OF THE        MANAGERS ON THE PART OF THE
            HOUSE                             SENATE
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
PAUL T. OSHIRO, Co-Chair           AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Member           MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
SOL P. KAHO`OHALAHALA, Member      LES IHARA, JR., Member

 
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______________________________     ______________________________
MARILYN B. LEE, Member             WHITNEY ANDERSON, Member



______________________________
CYNTHIA HENRY THIELEN, Member

 
a