Appeals Procedure Becomes Permanent

The State Judiciary sent out a news release today announcing that the procedure of filing appeals first with the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) instead of the Hawaii Supreme Court will become permanent on June 29, 2010.

In 2004, the Legislature passed a bill changing the jurisdictions of the Supreme Court and the ICA in order to reduce the backlog at the Supreme Court. The bill, HB2301, became law as Act 202 and was implemented on July 1, 2006. The requirement was scheduled to sunset this year. The Judiciary requested a new bill to repeal the sunset in the 2010 session. That bill, SB2150, was signed into law as Act 109.

The original bill in 2004 was introduced by Rep. Calvin Say, by request. Here's the bill description: "Amends appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court and the intermediate appellate court changing the supreme court's jurisdiction to appeals by writ of certiorari or transfer from the intermediate appellate court. Repeals criteria for assigning appeals. Requires most appeals to be filed with the intermediate appellate court instead of the supreme court. Appoints a task force to review the changes and make recommendations for implementation. (SD1)"

The Judiciary reports that "since the new process was implemented three years ago, appeals are being decided more promptly, the backlog of cases in the appellate courts has decreased, and the age of pending and decided appeals had been reduced. As a result, he Supreme Court has been able to hold oral argument in more of the cases it takes."

The Judiciary provided the following statistics:

*During fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 2009, 1,621 new appeals were filed.

*During the same time period, the ICA terminated 1,613 appeals, and the Supreme Court terminated all 171 of the appeals it had retained.

*At the end of FY 2009, 630 appeals were pending at the ICA. At the Supreme Court, 11 appeals taken on transfer or applications for writs of certiorari were pending at the end of FY 2009.

*The median age of all pending appeals as of June 30, 2009 was 246 days, a decrease of 101 days from the median age of pending appeals at the end of FY 2006.

*The median age of terminated appeals in FY 2009 was 332 days, a 146 day decrease from the median age of 478 days in FY 2006.

*By the end of FY 2009, approximately 20 percent fewer appeals were pending in the appellate courts and the median age of cases disposed in FY 2009 was five months less than in FY 2006.

No hearing for Death with Dignity Bill

House Judiciary Chairman, Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, today announced that the House of Representatives will not hold a hearing this year on a bill pertaining to the issue of Death with Dignity.

A bill for consideration, HB806, proposes to allow a terminally ill, competent adult to get a lethal dose of medication to end life. It would prohibit mercy killings, lethal injections, and active euthanasia.

“This is an important subject that needs to be discussed,” said Chair Karamatsu. “At this time, the committee has not received a strong push from advocates to hear the bill, therefore, given the full plate before the Judiciary committee, I have decided to not hear the bill this year. I am open to hearing the bill in the future.”

Photo: Supporters of Death with Dignity initiative in Oregon. (Click on photo for link)

Karen's Law and Jessica's Law

The House Judiciary Committee heard two bills today that serve to strengthen criminal penalties for sexual assault and murder.


Karen’s Law: House Bill 819, HD1 – RELATING TO CRIME. This bill mandates that minors aged 15-17 be tried as adults in cases of first and second degree murder. The bill passed unanimously in the House Human Services committee hearing last week. The bill was inspired by the case of Karen Ertell, who was found murdered by a teenage neighbor with whom she had repeated problems. The committee deferred the bill for decision making on Friday, 2/13/09.


Jessica’s Law: House Bill 620 – RELATING TO SENTENCING. This bill authorizes the court at sentencing to require a person with three or more convictions of sexual assault in the first degree to wear a global positioning system transmitter for up to 10 years after the person’s release from prison. Currently, 41 states have enacted similar legislation; it is referred to as “Jessica’s Law” in other states. The committee passed the bill with amendments, including changing the "gps" terminology to "electronic monitoring device" and putting on a defective date of 1/1/2046.

HPU students lobby for Uganda resolution

Hawaii Pacific University students of Invisible Children Hawaii presented testimony to the Judiciary Committee today in support of House Resolution and House Concurrent Resolution 39, which urges congress to lead the international community in efforts to protect the children of Uganda.

Excerpts from the resolution:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature also urges the Government of Uganda to abolish child soldiering in its armed forces;
and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii's Congressional Delegation is urged to support legislation allocating sufficient funds for continued humanitarian aid for the people of Uganda as well as legislation urging the LRA to engage in good faith negotiations in pursuing a political solution to this conflict; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, and the heads of other similar government agencies and nongovernmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations within the international community are urged to continue augmenting efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda and to support a peaceful resolution to this crisis by publicly and forcefully reiterating the preceding demands; and

For more than 20 years, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has engaged in an armed conflict with the Government of Uganda, resulting in 10, 000 people murdered, at least twice that number of children abducted, and over 1, 600, 000 people displaced, according to the resolution. Read more on this issue in a past blog post here.

The atrocities and violence are still going on today. It has become a dismissed and forgotten humanitarian issue that the world has left for another day.

Invisible Children Hawaii want to see that day arrive sooner than later. They hope the resolution will spark more community support and awareness in Hawaii, the mainland and around the world on the civil war in Uganda and the children who are most affected by it.

Invisible Children Hawaii set three goals this year: Education, Fundraising and Lobbying. They have thus far presented screenings of the documentary "Invisible Children" to more than 500 Hawaii students and raised over $4,000 for Atanda Secondary School in Uganda.

HR/HCR 39 HD 1 passed out of Judiciary this afternoon bringing the group one step closer to making a difference and achieving their objectives this year.

"I'm so excited," said Sara Ortiz, an HPU student from Mexico majoring in International Studies. "We've worked so hard."

The resolution is only a stepping stone to drafting a bill for the 2009 Legislative Session that would make a bigger impact on international humanitarian issues and maybe even put more money into the effort, said Ortiz.

Today, Invisible Children Hawaii are content with knowing that they have the support of the State Legislature.

Photo: Sara Ortiz, 24; Aya Sato, 19; and Duda Breseeg, 23, urge the Judicial Committee to pass HR/HCR 39 in hearing today.

Supreme Court struck down similar drug testing law

The Judiciary Committee today deferred until March 20th a Senate ethics bill that would require drug testing for elected officials prior to taking the oath of office and upon reasonable suspicion thereafter.

There were concerns from the ACLU that the law would be unconstitutional in its current form. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment or dissent, rejected an appeal of a ruling that found a Louisiana law requiring random drug testing unconstitutional.

From the New York Times:

Judge Eldon E. Fallon of United States District Court said the law violated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure. He said the state failed to show a special need to test elected officials.

When asked what should be done with the bill, a representative testifying on behalf of the ACLU joked that he hoped to see it pass out so that he could collect attorney fees.

The bill would not violate constitutional law if drug testing was required with reasonable suspicion.

SB 945, in its total form, would also prohibit nepotism within the Legislature and state agencies from entering into contracts with a legislator for goods or services valued at $10,000 or more per year.

Judiciary merges child welfare bills

Two bills relating to the protection of children were merged last night in a Judiciary Committee hearing. HB 3136, a bill that will allow a child to remain in the care of relatives or hanai caregivers if the arrangements are safe, will be added as a second section to HB 2596.

The Judiciary Committee omitted specific language from HB 2596, HD1 that would have required drug addicted parents to be sober for 60 days before regaining visitation rights.

One testifier said that it would be inhumane and heartbreaking to take a child away from their parent for 60 days. Although the tactic is to punish the parent, the new law would be detrimental to the child.

I know it's heartbreaking but it's also dangerous, said Rep. Josh Green. He questioned whether it was too harsh to make it clear to drug addicted parents to clean up their act for 60 days.

DHS argued that the visits are for the kids and not the parents, and that forbidding children from seeing their parents may cause even more psychological problems. They also pointed out that according to Hawaii law parents cannot be bribed into seeking drug treatment, and if made law, this measure would be using children as bait.

The new measure, HB 2596, HD2, will require the Department of Human Services to investigate reports of drug use in homes, specifically ice, within 24 hours and require parents to show proof of participation in substance abuse treatment to have full custody of a child, as well as include the intent of HB3136.

Cost a problem for GPS tracking of TRO violators

Money was the biggest issue in a hearing yesterday discussing the future of HB2766, a measure that would allow courts to require electronic monitoring of offenders convicted of violating a domestic abuse temporary restraining order. The measure would also appropriate funds for offenders who cannot afford to pay for costs associated with the monitoring device.

A representative from the Public Defenders Office argued that many TRO violators wouldn't be able to afford the $5 cost of the electronic monitoring device. He said that most domestic disputes stem from money issues and that adding additional costs would exacerbate the situation, possibly putting the victim in more danger. The offender will blame the victim, he said. They are already upset about mandatory jail time and will become angrier about paying higher fees.

The Hawaii State Coalition Against Drunk Driving Domestic Violence begged to differ, disagreeing with the testimony that violators can't afford $5 a day and refuting the claim that money is a cause of domestic violence. A representative from the non-profit organization said that money is not the source of domestic violence problems; the need to guard all the power and control in a relationship is. Anyone can be an abuser, not only the indigent. They can be the wealthy businessperson walking down Bishop St., the physician you saw last week or the fastfood worker who took your order this afternoon.

Although the bill was passed out of Judiciary, Rep. Tommy Waters mentioned that funding will most likely be a problem. The state may not be able to afford the appropriation of funds to pay for electronic devices for indigent persons. Rep. Waters recommended passing the bill on to Finance for further discussion. Rep. Cindy Evans (D), Rep. Joseph Souki (D), Rep. Kymberly Pine (R) voted yes with reservations.

Photo from BBC News.

ERROR: Thank you to MADD for noticing a mistake in the post. The Hawaii State Coalition Against Drunk Driving (did i really write that!?) didn't give testimony because no such coalition exists; the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence gave testimony on the issue.

Extended sentencing bill - what it's all about...

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the state's extended sentencing bill is unconstitutional because it violates the sixth amendment right to a jury trial. The law, as currently written, allows judges, rather than juries, to determine what facts warrant longer sentences. What the ruling means is that judges cannot apply the extended sentencing law in current cases, and that even felons who were previously sentenced but are appealing those sentences now have the right to a jury trial (and could have their sentences reduced.)

Attorney General Mark Bennett declared that there was no immediate public danger because of the court's ruling. The long term effect, however, is that certain felons will serve shorter sentences and will be back out in the community, perhaps sooner than they should be.

HB2 Related to Sentencing amends Hawaii's extended term sentencing law to address the issues raised in the court ruling on the right to a jury trial. The bill is expected to be supported by the law enforcement community.

The description of the bill is: Requires jury to deterine facts necessary to impose an extended term of imprisonment under section 706-662, HRS, unless right to jury determination is waived, in which case determination is to be made by judge. Requires facts to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

It is unlikely that the legislature would have reconvened just for the extended sentencing bill, but the Superferry issue provided a timely opportunity for lawmakers to make the fix. We'll be posting on the outcome of the 4 p.m. Judiciary hearing, chaired by Rep. Tommy Waters, later today.