Bill Text: HI SCR147 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requesting The Legislative Reference Bureau To Conduct A Study On The Potential Impact On The Administrative And Judicial Systems Of State Government And On Local Law Enforcement If The Illegal Possession Of Marijuana For Personal Use Is Decriminalized In Hawaii.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-28 - The committee on PSM deferred the measure. [SCR147 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2017-SCR147-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
147 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting the legislative reference bureau to conduct a study on the potential impact on the administrative and judicial systems of state government and on local law enforcement if the illegal possession of marijuana for personal use is decriminalized in hawaii.
WHEREAS, according to the results from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, despite the United States' longstanding policy of enforcing illicit drug prohibition and imposing some of the world's harshest penalties for drug possession and sales, illicit drug use in the United States has increased; and
WHEREAS, a survey, conducted annually by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, found that an estimated 24,600,000 people aged twelve or older nationally, which is 9.4 percent of the population, used an illicit drug within the past month, up from 8.3 percent in 2002; and
WHEREAS, acknowledging the need for a change in solutions to illicit drug use, the federal administration's 2014 National Drug Control Strategy presented a marked departure from previous approaches to national drug policy by focusing on the public health and public safety aspects of drug use and substance use disorders, recognizing addiction as a disease, emphasizing the importance of preventing drug use, and promoting treatment to those who need it, including those who are involved in the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS, in Hawaii, drug court and related programs alleviate prison overcrowding and offer more effective rehabilitation options for qualified defendants by providing them with an opportunity to be granted community supervision to obtain substance abuse treatment in lieu of incarceration; and
WHEREAS, in 2014, the Department of the Attorney General's Report "Crime in Hawaii 2014" found that seven hundred ninety-two adults and four hundred five juveniles were arrested for the possession of marijuana, resulting in enforcement costs as well as pre-trial detention costs; and
WHEREAS, the "Crime in Hawaii 2014" report corroborates the findings of the report "The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System" by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that despite similar rates of drug use to other groups, Native Hawaiians are disproportionately arrested for offenses such as possession of marijuana; and
WHEREAS, documented and undocumented immigrants are potentially subject to deportation for the possession of marijuana, and given the increasingly anti-immigrant rhetoric and action emanating from the Trump Administration, this double jeopardy treatment of immigrants convicted of non-violent marijuana possession offenses is severely disproportionate; and
WHEREAS, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union found in a 2016 report "Every 25 Seconds: The Human Toll of Criminalizing Drug Use in the United States" that nearly half of over one million drug possession arrests nationwide were for marijuana and those arrest rates varied starkly from county to county despite similar rates of use; and
WHEREAS, while the distribution of marijuana remains a federal offense, the United States Department of Justice in 2013 and in the wake of recent state ballot initiatives that legalized the possession of marijuana for personal use, announced an update to its marijuana enforcement policy that deferred the federal government's right to challenge state marijuana legalization laws under the expectation that each affected state would implement an appropriate regulatory system; and
WHEREAS, United States Senator Brian Schatz and ten other United States senators sent a letter on March 2, 2017, to United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, stating that all states with legal medical or recreational marijuana as well as those states that have decriminalized possession, are in full compliance with the United States Department of Justice's 2013 Cole Memorandum regarding federal marijuana enforcement priorities; and
WHEREAS, Hawaii is among twenty-eight states that authorize and regulate medical uses of marijuana; and
WHEREAS, eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized the growing and possession of recreational marijuana for adult use; and
WHEREAS, twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use; and
WHEREAS, unlike state laws that legalize medical and recreational marijuana, a state law regarding the decriminalization of marijuana possession for personal use may not be in conflict with federal law; and
WHEREAS, according to nearly unanimous scientific research, marijuana is less addictive and less harmful than legal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; and
WHEREAS, tens of thousands of Hawaii residents who have registered for the Department of Health's medical marijuana program since its inception in 2000 serve as proof that marijuana's listing as a dangerous Schedule I drug in the federal and state schedules is a relic of another era; and
WHEREAS, the American Academy of Pediatrics finds that decriminalization of marijuana has not resulted in higher use among minors in any state, but that arrests for this offense disproportionately occur among youth from minority groups and that these youths incur lifelong collateral sanctions that limit their ability to secure student loans, housing, financial aid, and certain jobs; and
WHEREAS, the Legislative Reference Bureau in its recent report "Panacea or Pipe Dream: Does Portugal's Policy Translate for Hawaii?" on decriminalization of certain drugs, conducted pursuant to H.C.R. No. 127, H.D. 1, S.D. 1 (Regular Session of 2016), referenced numerous uncertainties regarding the intent of the Legislature, which negatively affected the Legislative Reference Bureau's ability to more fully estimate the potential impacts; and
WHEREAS, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu did not acknowledge initial or follow-up requests by the Legislative Reference Bureau, while the other county prosecutors did not provide informative responses due to a lack of data, a lack of personnel resources, or other reasons; and
WHEREAS, the positive results from other states' long-standing marijuana decriminalization policies highlight that Hawaii needs to seriously consider this approach; an approach that is supported by seventy percent of the State's population according to a December 2016 poll conducted for the Drug Policy Action Group by the Anthology Marketing Group; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to conduct a study on the potential impact on the administrative and judicial systems of state government and on local law enforcement if the illegal possession of marijuana for personal use is decriminalized in Hawaii; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study is requested to include the following:
(1) The potential impact on the administrative and judicial systems of state government and on local law enforcement if committing a marijuana possession offense is an administrative or civil violation rather than a crime;
(2) An overview of the strengths and weaknesses of creating a new administrative process to adjudicate decriminalized marijuana possession cases as well as retaining the adjudication process for these cases within the judicial system;
(3) The feasibility of eliminating the arrest and detention of individuals who are suspected of marijuana possession;
(4) An assessment of the impact of decriminalizing the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana and the separate impact of decriminalizing possession of more than one ounce of marijuana;
(5) An analysis determining the impact of existing marijuana possession criminal laws on Hawaii's population, specifically on the youth, disparate arrest rates among racial and ethnic groups, and counties, and the types of consequences, also known as collateral sanctions, a criminal conviction for marijuana can have on individuals; and
(6) Findings that are based on the assumption that the penalty imposed for a violation would be $100 for the first offense and $200 for each subsequent offense, if marijuana possession for personal use were decriminalized; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Judiciary, Department of Public Safety, each county police department, each county prosecutor, and Office of the Public Defender are requested to provide statistics and other pertinent data and information, as may be requested by the Legislative Reference Bureau, to assist the Legislative Reference Bureau in the timely completion of the study; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2018; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii, Administrative Director of the Courts, Director of Public Safety, State Public Defender, Chief of Police of each county police department, and Prosecutor of each county.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Marijuana; Decriminalization; Possession; Personal Use; Legislative Reference Bureau; Study
