Bill Text: HI SCR62 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Agriculture To Establish A Two-year Agricultural Crime Pilot Project To Examine And Assess The Effectiveness Of Prosecuting Agricultural Crime Cases, Including Those Of Agricultural Theft And Agricultural Vandalism, In The City And County Of Honolulu And County Of Kauai.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-19 - Re-Referred to AEN/JDC. [SCR62 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SCR62-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	62
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the Department of Agriculture to establish a TWO-YEAR agricultural crime pilot project to examine and assess the effectiveness of prosecuting agricultural crime cases, including those of agricultural theft and agricultural vandalism, in the city and county of Honolulu and county of Kauai.

 

 

     WHEREAS, agricultural crimes, which include agricultural theft and vandalism, are a persistent issue affecting farmers and ranchers of the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to a recent publication by the United States Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Department of Agriculture, in 2019, there were nearly nineteen thousand incidents of theft, vandalism, and trespassing on farms in the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, these incidents cost Hawaii farms approximately $14,400,000, or ten percent of the estimated 2018 Hawaii net farm income, in theft and vandalism losses and security costs; and

 

     WHEREAS, some individuals often trespass onto farm property, often armed with weapons and accompanied by dogs, to illegally hunt, which can be particularly dangerous and destructive for farming operations and can result in destroyed crops, lost livestock, illegal drug use, litter, and discarded animal carcasses on farm property; and

 

     WHEREAS, agricultural crimes, including agricultural theft and vandalism, increase the costs of production and decrease the chances for farming and ranching operations to succeed; and

 

     WHEREAS, despite the prevalence and cost of agricultural crimes, many incidents go unreported and few result in convictions; and

 

WHEREAS, of the nearly nineteen thousand incidents in 2019, only nine hundred seventy incidents were reported to law enforcement, which resulted in seventy-nine arrests and sixty-seven convictions; and

 

     WHEREAS, recognizing the challenges that local farmers face regarding agricultural crimes, the Legislature passed Act 217, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, which established a two-year Agricultural Theft and Vandalism Project Program to examine the effectiveness of prosecuting agricultural theft and vandalism cases in the counties of Hawaii and Maui, and included cases of theft and vandalism that affect individuals who are not full-time farmers or ranchers; and

 

     WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu suffered the highest rates of theft or vandalism of all farms in the State and the County of Kauai suffered the third highest rates of theft or vandalism of all farms in the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, this body believes that it is time to replicate the Agricultural Theft and Vandalism Pilot Project in the City and County of Honolulu and County of Kauai as it will provide resources to suppress incidences of agricultural crimes and losses to farmers, ranchers, aquaculturists, and floriculturists in the State; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Agriculture is urged to establish a two-year Agricultural Crime Pilot Project to examine and assess the effectiveness of prosecuting agricultural crime cases, including those of agricultural theft and agricultural vandalism, in the City and County of Honolulu and County of Kauai; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is also requested to examine and assess the effectiveness of prosecuting agricultural crimes, including the theft of agricultural products produced for personal or commercial use on any land, regardless of land classification, and agricultural vandalism; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to coordinate with the Department of Law Enforcement, the City and County of Honolulu and County of Kauai to hire one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) enforcement officer for each county, to be placed within the respective prosecuting attorney's office or any other law enforcement agency; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to assess the implementation of the pilot project, including the pilot project's effectiveness, to determine whether to continue, expand, or end the pilot project, by:

 

     (1)  Identifying the number of convictions for agricultural crimes;

 

     (2)  Identifying best practices for prosecuting perpetrators of agricultural crimes;

 

     (3)  Identifying best practices for the coordination of local police and other enforcement officers' interaction between the prosecuting attorney's office and the Judiciary;

 

     (4)  Identifying best practices for the development and implementation of the public's and farmers' reporting of agricultural crimes or the attempt of agricultural theft or agricultural vandalism;

 

     (5)  Identifying areas where agricultural crimes are most prevalent;

 

     (6)  Identifying best practices for preventing agricultural crimes; and

 

     (7)  Making recommendations for a statewide program to address agricultural crimes; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to submit an interim report to the Legislature of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2025; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to submit a final report to the Legislature of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2026; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, Director of Law Enforcement, Prosecuting Attorneys for the City and County of Honolulu and the County of Kauai, and Chiefs of Police of the Honolulu Police Department and the Kauai Police Department.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

 

Report Title: 

Department of Agriculture; Agricultural Crime Pilot Project; Honolulu; Kauai; Report