Bill Text: HI HCR4 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Auditor; Attorney General; Asset Forfeiture Program
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-04-25 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HCR4 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2016-HCR4-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
4 |
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TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting the auditor to audit the asset forfeiture program of the department of the attorney general.
WHEREAS, in 1988 the Legislature enacted the Hawaii Omnibus Criminal Forfeiture Act, codified in Chapter 712A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to provide for the forfeiture of property used or acquired in connection with the commission of certain criminal offenses and for the distribution of the property, or its proceeds, to law enforcement agencies for law enforcement purposes; and
WHEREAS, a law enforcement coalition consisting of the Attorney General and the four county prosecutors and police chiefs had proposed the Asset Forfeiture Program to establish a mechanism to enable law enforcement to take away the means by which criminals engage in their unlawful activities and the benefits derived from those activities; and
WHEREAS, the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the Department of the Attorney General was part of the department's Criminal Justice Division and is now part of its Civil Recoveries Division and is responsible for operating the Asset Forfeiture Program to administratively process forfeitures of personal property worth less than $100,000, or forfeitures of any vehicle or conveyance, regardless of value, but not the forfeiture of real property, pursuant to Section 712A-10, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and
WHEREAS, the Attorney General is charged with disposing of property forfeited to the State through administrative or judicial proceedings pursuant to Section 712A-16(1), Hawaii Revised Statutes, and may transfer forfeited property, such as automobiles, to state and county agencies, sell property by public sale, pay valid claims against forfeited property, and destroy contraband or raw materials or equipment used to manufacture controlled substances; and
WHEREAS, the Attorney General distributes a twenty-five percent share of forfeited currency and sale proceeds of forfeited property, if any, to both the agency that seized the property and the prosecuting attorney that initiated the administrative or judicial forfeiture proceeding; and fifty percent of the forfeited currency, or sale proceeds, if any, is deposited in the Criminal Forfeiture Fund established pursuant to Section 712A-16(4), Hawaii Revised Statutes; and
WHEREAS, property and money distributed pursuant to Section 712A-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, must be used for law enforcement purposes and may be used to supplement, but not supplant, funds regularly appropriated to law enforcement agencies; and
WHEREAS, despite the noble intentions of allowing civil asset forfeitures, many accounts of abuses demonstrate that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of law enforcement and that civil asset forfeitures should be refocused on their original purpose of penalizing those who seek to profit from illegal activities; and
WHEREAS, the last audit of the Asset Forfeiture Program, performed over two decades ago in 1989, Auditor's Report No. 90-6, Management Audit of the Narcotics Enforcement Division and the Investigation Division of the Department of the Attorney General, found that the Department of the Attorney General had not adequately planned or developed the forfeiture program and recommended the development of formal policies and procedures for the timely retrieval and deposit of forfeited cash, a control list of cash, a formal accounting period and financial statements for the Criminal Forfeiture Fund, procedures and timetables for auctioning or otherwise disposing of forfeited non-cash assets, and procedures for depositing forfeited cash into bank accounts; and
WHEREAS, a sunset evaluation of the forfeiture program in 1995, Auditor's Report No. 95-22, Sunset Evaluation of the Forfeiture Program, was inconclusive as to whether the forfeiture program deters crime and recommended amendments to improve fairness, based on the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (1994), which included provisions regarding forfeitures and was issued by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws as a model for states to consider; and
WHEREAS, Auditor's Report No. 95-22 also recommended repeal of the Criminal Forfeiture Fund so that some forfeiture proceeds can be deposited into the state general fund for legislative appropriation; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a management audit of the Asset Forfeiture Program of the Department of the Attorney General to:
(1) Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the Asset Forfeiture Program;
(2) Determine whether the program uses moneys for the purposes intended, pursuant to Chapter 712A, Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(3) Provide a comprehensive accounting of money and property seized and disposed of through asset forfeitures;
(4) Determine how many asset forfeitures occurred in connection with cases that did not result in criminal convictions;
(5) Provide an assessment of the socioeconomic status of individuals whose assets have been forfeited; and
(6) Follow up on recommendations made in Auditor's Report No. 95-22; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2017; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and the Attorney General.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Auditor; Attorney General; Asset Forfeiture Program
