STAND. COM. REP. NO.549

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 771

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 771 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIME,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish interference with the reporting of an emergency or crime as a petty misdemeanor.

Your Committee received testimony in favor of the measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, the Honolulu Police Department, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and concerned individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the measure from the Office of the Public Defender.

Your Committee finds that perpetrators of domestic violence should not prevent victims and witnesses from contacting authorities for assistance in preventing domestic violence.

Your Committee amended this bill by clarifying and limiting prohibited conduct to intentionally and knowingly preventing a victim of or witness to a criminal act from:

(1) Calling a 911-emergency telephone system;

(2) Obtaining medical assistance; or

(3) Making a report to a law enforcement officer.

 

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 771, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 771, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair