HONOLULU — A bill that would make the state responsible for initiating the expungement of arrests and convictions for certain minor drug offenses from individual criminal records will advance through the state Senate in significantly modified form following a Tuesday hearing by the Senate’s Committee on Judiciary.
House Bill 1595, House Draft 1, arrived at the committee as a proposal to create a state-initiated process to expunge records of third-degree promoting a detrimental drug. The measure also called for the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center to file biannual reports to the Legislature until all eligible records were expunged.
However, following oppositional testimony from the Office of the Attorney General and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and a recommendation by the state Judiciary to defer the measure for further study, the committee opted to accept a pilot program proposed by the AG’s office.
The initial drafts of the bill acknowledge that arrest and conviction records can prevent people from obtaining employment, housing, licensure and other essentials for personal and financial security and that the state decriminalized possession of three grams of less of marijuana in 2019.
Hawaii is one of several states that allow for the expungement of criminal records under certain circumstances, but the current process requires individual applicants to initiate, navigate and bear expenses for the process themselves.
The measure was intended to create a process that would free eligible individuals from those burdens. However, the AG’s office noted several areas of concerns with the proposed remedy.
In written testimony to the committee, the office contended that the bill would essentially repeal the offense of promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree without actually removing it from the state’s penal code.
The AG also said it would be “practically impossible” to correctly identify and locate everyone eligible for expungements under the language of the bill without the applicants first providing information (current legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, current address, etc.) needed to process the expungement.
Among other objections, the office further argued that the bill, as then worded, would apply to anyone charged under Section 712-1249, including those whose arrest or conviction was related to a Schedule V substance other than marijuana.
The AG’s proposed pilot program would specify eligibility only for those arrested and/or charged with marijuana possession under Section 712-1249 HRS, and whose arrest resulted in a non-conviction disposition.
As adopted by the committee, the pilot would last 14 months and be limited to Hawaii Island to ensure a manageable number of cases for the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center to process using existing resources.
Numerous agencies, organizations and individuals expressed support for a state-initiated process to expunge eligible criminal records, including the ACLU of Hawaii, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, state Office of the Public Defender, Community Alliance on Prisons, Democratic Party of Hawaii and Japanese American Citizens League.
The Maui and Honolulu prosecutor’s offices both testified in opposition the bill.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.