Bill Text: HI HB2454 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center; Rap Back Program

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-07-06 - (S) Act 210, 7/3/2012 (Gov. Msg. No. 1313). [HB2454 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HB2454-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3181

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2454

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2454, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE RAP BACK PROGRAM OF THE HAWAII CRIMINAL JUSTICE DATA CENTER,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to implement a rap back program that allows entities that are statutorily authorized to obtain criminal history record checks on applicants, including employment and licensing applicants, to be notified if any applicants are arrested subsequent to their initial record checks.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Human Services, Department of Health, and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

 

     Your Committee finds that Act 117, Session Laws of Hawaii 2011, authorized the State to indefinitely retain fingerprints of employment and licensing applicants for whom criminal history record checks are authorized statutorily in order for the State to implement a statewide "Rap Back" program.  The rap back program informs authorized recipients, such as criminal justice agencies and government agencies servicing Hawaii's vulnerable populations, when an individual, who has previously undergone a fingerprint-based background check and whose fingerprints are retained by a criminal history repository after the check, is subsequently arrested.  The notified authorized recipient may take appropriate action accordingly.  Rap back programs at the state and national levels allow Hawaii's employers and licensing agencies to make better and faster decisions that affect the safety and well-being of Hawaii's vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and the disabled.

 

     Although the original plan was to develop and implement the fingerprint retention system prior to implementing the rap back program, the State currently has an opportunity to apply for a grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop a background checks system.  The grant requires a rap back program.  If Hawaii is awarded the grant, work on the rap back program can begin sooner than anticipated.  Therefore, this measure amends the law relating to criminal history record checks to implement Hawaii's rap back program in order to meet grant requirements.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adopting the language suggested by the Department of the Attorney General to clarify that the identifying information required by the Federal Bureau of Investigations is that of an applicant or employee; and

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date from January 7, 2059, to upon approval.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2454, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2454, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

		____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair