STAND. COM. REP. NO.892

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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 579, S.D. 1, 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 for a grant-in-aid to the Honolulu Police Department for the development of a non-emergency — or 3-1-1 — report system.

In addition, this measure requires the Honolulu Police Department to:

(1) Establish a 3-1-1 call section to receive non-emergency phone requests;

(2) Develop a web site in order to provide access to an on-line request form that can be filled out by the public;

(3) Utilize district station personnel to handle phone-in and walk-in requests for non-emergency services;

(4) Improve 9-1-1 information in telephone directories in order to instruct the public on the appropriate usage of 9-1-1; and

(5) Develop educational programs and directory information in order to instruct the public on the appropriate usage of 3-1-1.

Your Committee finds that the Honolulu Police Department receives over 1,000,000 calls each year through the enhanced 9-1-1 emergency telephone service requesting police, fire, or ambulance services. About seventy to eighty per cent of these calls — or approximately 700,000 to 800,000 calls — are for police services, and of that number, about seventy per cent — or approximately 490,000 to 560,000 calls — are requests for non-emergency police services. Requests for non-emergency police services frequently overwhelm available 9-1-1 operators, resulting in a backlog of emergency calls awaiting the dispatch of a police officer to the scene of a real emergency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 579, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair