STAND. COM. REP. NO.290

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 579

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 579 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A NON-EMERGENCY REPORT SYSTEM, KNOWN AS 3-1-1,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds as a grant-in-aid for the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) to establish a 3-1-1 non-emergency reporting system, and to require that a surcharge be placed on each 3-1-1 phone line to cover the operational costs of the system.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the HPD and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu. Verizon Hawaii and Verizon Wireless submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.

Your Committee finds that HPD receives over one million calls annually through the enhanced 9-1-1 emergency telephone service requesting police, fire, or ambulance services. Approximately 700,000 to 800,000 of those calls are for police services, and of that number, nearly 70 per cent are requests for non-emergency police services.

Your Committee finds that the tremendous number of non-emergency calls through the 9-1-1 service overloads the system and affects the State's ability to respond quickly and efficiently to emergency situations.

Therefore, your Committee supports this measure, which will give callers an alternative number to call for non-emergencies, reserving 9-1-1 for callers that require a rapid response.

Your Committee amended this measure to remove the provisions that would have required a surcharge to be placed on each 3-1-1 phone line. HPD testified that many aspects of the 3-1-1 system will be funded through the HPD's regular annual budget, and your Committee finds that an initial grant-in-aid to provide start-up costs may be sufficient.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 579, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 579, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations,

____________________________

CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair