{"id":73211,"date":"2024-03-12T14:35:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T22:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/03\/12\/hawaii-senate-panel-guts-house-passed-marijuana-expungements-bill-limiting-it-to-a-single-county-pilot-program\/"},"modified":"2024-03-13T19:46:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T03:46:29","slug":"hawaii-senate-panel-guts-house-passed-marijuana-expungements-bill-limiting-it-to-a-single-county-pilot-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/03\/12\/hawaii-senate-panel-guts-house-passed-marijuana-expungements-bill-limiting-it-to-a-single-county-pilot-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii Senate Panel Guts House-Passed Marijuana Expungements Bill, Limiting It To A Single-County Pilot Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

A Hawaii Senate panel has significantly scaled back a measure that\u2014as passed by the House last week\u2014would have directed the state to automatically expunge tens of thousands of arrest and conviction records for low-level marijuana possession<\/a>, amending the proposal to instead limit the relief\u00a0 to a one-county pilot program. The move comes as lawmakers in the state are also advancing separate legislation that would legalize cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of the bill\u2019s statewide automatic expungement program for arrests and convictions,\u201d said Sen. Karl Rhodes (D), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at a hearing onTuesday, \u201cI propose that we adopt the attorney general\u2019s pilot program for state-initiated expungement of marijuana possession arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for where the pilot program would be located, \u201cI was thinking of Hawaii County,\u201d Rhodes added. That county, comprising the Big Island, is the state\u2019s second most populous after Honolulu County and is home to about 14 percent of the state\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

Further, the measure would only apply to criminal cases \u201cterminated with a final disposition other than a conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five-member panel advanced the amended measure unanimously.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s already a process in place to request record sealing from the courts following the state\u2019s decriminalization of small amounts of cannabis about four years ago, advocates say the process can be difficult to navigate, often requiring people to seek out legal counsel and pay court fees that can be prohibitive.<\/p>\n

If the amendments, proposed by the office of Attorney General Anne Lopez (D), remain in place, the legislation would ultimately impact just a fraction of what HB 1595\u2019s sponsor, Rep. David Tarnas (D), has said are \u201capproximately 30,000 people\u201d eligible for expungements under the original proposal.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cInstead of the bill in its current form, the Department proposes a pilot project whereby certain individuals who have been arrested solely for marijuana possession\u2026and whose arrest resulted in a non-conviction disposition, have the arrest expunged via a state-initiated process,\u201d the Lopez\u2019s office said in submitted testimony. Without amendments, it continued, the department \u201creiterates its strong opposition to this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Limiting the process to a single county would \u201censure a manageable number of cases for the Data Center to process using existing resources and would last for approximately 14 months,\u201d the department said. \u201cResults of the pilot project could then be used to evaluate the project\u2019s effectiveness, utility, and efficiency, and to allow the Data Center to make more informed recommendations for future efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen O\u2019Keefe, director of state policies for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project, said the panel\u2019s \u201cdecision to limit the expungement bill to a one-county pilot project for a paltry three grams represents a severe blow to cannabis justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn economic life sentence is an outrageously disproportionate penalty for possessing a substance that most Hawaii residents\u2014and the Hawai\u2019i Senate\u2014believe should be legal,\u201d O\u2019Keefe told Marijuana Moment after the vote. \u201cTestimony at the House Judiciary Committee\u2019s informational briefing made it clear Hawai\u2019i can and should remove this stigma which derails so many lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the changes, HB 1595<\/a> would have automated the state\u2019s expungement process, mandating that the state attorney general\u2019s office \u201cissue, without petition and on the department\u2019s own initiative, an expungement order annulling, canceling, and rescinding all criminal records, including records of arrest and any records of conviction\u201d for possession of up to three grams of marijuana.<\/p>\n

That would need to include records for civil violations, petty misdemeanor convictions, juvenile convictions, arrests, convictions and any pending charges.<\/p>\n

The House-passed version also would require the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center to identify all cases eligible for expungement within 30 days of enactment and provide that information in biennial reports to the attorney general\u2019s office, county prosecuting attorneys, county police departments and each state court.<\/p>\n

Within 60 days of receiving those lists, the attorney general\u2019s office would then need to issue expungement orders for those records. Then, within one year of getting those orders, the judiciary would facilitate the relief.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Keefe told the panel in testimony on Tuesday that the \u201cstate-initiated aspect of this bill is essential because few eligible individuals complete petition-based expungement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Other advocates said they were nevertheless pleased to see the legislation moved forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile HB1595 was amended to be narrower in scope, we are proud that our work has led to the first ever state initiated expungement process in Hawai\u2019i,\u201d said Frank Stiefl, senior policy associate for the Last Prisoner Project. \u201cThis is a huge step forward that will encourage Gov. Green to amplify relief for those with cannabis records through his clemency powers, something the Hawai\u2019i legislature has already urged him to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another advocate, Nikos Leverenz, of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai\u2019i and the Hawai\u2019i Health and Harm Reduction Center, said in an email to Marijuana Moment that \u201cif this pared-down measure is enacted and signed into law, and the attorney general subsequently acts in good faith to expeditiously implement it, then it is a positive development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile expungement does take some level of effort,\u201d he added, the figures from the attorney general\u2019s office in recent months indicate that it already has confidence in its ability to identify those whose records could be expunged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the amendments being adopted at the Senate committee hearing, a speaker from ACLU Hawaii pointed to real-life impacts of cannabis criminalization that the bill was designed to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s currently an individual on Kauai who has a teacher\u2019s credential,\u201d said Carrie Ann Shirota, the group\u2019s policy director, \u201cand because of a cannabis-related offense which is on his record, he can\u2019t get a job within our [Department of Education], despite having the training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are dealing with a workforce crisis,\u201d Shirota added.<\/p>\n

Sen. Joy A. San Buenaventura (D) said she was \u201cgenerally in agreement\u201d with the plan limit the bill to a pilot program, although she proposed expanding the amended measure to include records related to drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t really considered that at this point, so I don\u2019t know I don\u2019t think I can in good conscience say, \u2018Yeah, let\u2019s do it,’\u201d replied Rhodes, but he said he would put the suggestion in the committee\u2019s report on the bill.<\/p>\n

Sen. Brenton Awa, the panel\u2019s only Republican member, said he would have voted against the bill if not for the attorney general\u2019s proposed amendments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was gonna vote no, but with the pilot program just specifically for marijuana, I\u2019ll vote yes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leverenz, for his part, said he\u2019d like to see San Buenaventura\u2019s paraphernalia suggestion incorporated into a later version of the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed amendment floated by Sen. San Buenaventura to also include arrests and convictions for drug paraphernalia prior to decriminalization in 2017 was an intriguing idea,\u201d he said, \u201cand would be a good standalone measure or part of a bill to have Hawaii join Alaska and Minnesota in not having a drug paraphernalia law. Despite decriminalization, the law still operates as a gateway into criminal legal system involvement for those with behavioral health conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full House of Representatives passed the bill last week<\/a>\u2014on the same day the Senate approved a bill to legalize and regulate adult-use marijuana in the state<\/a>. A joint House committee hearing on the legalization bill is scheduled for Wednesday<\/p>\n

As for that measure, Democratic lawmakers in Hawaii recently spoke to reporters about the measure<\/a>, expressing optimism about Wednesday\u2019s House joint committee hearing. But some worried that it could be harder to get the bill through the Finance Committee, where the bill would go next.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Finance Committee is dealing with a lot of different challenges this year,\u201d said Rep. Scot Matayoshi (D). \u201cThe budget is very underwater, very in the red.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of law enforcement have also come out in strong opposition to the legalization measure.<\/p>\n

Last year the\u00a0Senate passed a separate legalization bill<\/a>\u00a0that stalled the House, but advocates are hopeful this year\u2019s proposal could get further. The governor said last month that legalization is a \u201cbig social issue that remains\u201d to be addressed in the state, signaling that he\u2019d\u00a0likely sign a bill to end cannabis prohibition if lawmakers send him one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s current more-than-300-page bill\u00a0was formally introduced in both chambers in January<\/a> and is largely based on a legalization plan unveiled by Attorney General Lopez.<\/p>\n

Advocates have complained that the AG-written bill wrongly frames marijuana as a law enforcement issue, though they say recent committee changes have been an improvement.<\/p>\n

Democrats in control of Hawaii\u2019s Senate said in January that\u00a0cannabis legalization is one of their top priorities this legislative session<\/a>, framing the reform as a means to boost the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

State residents, for their part, seem to support the change. A Hawai\u2019i Perspectives\u00a0survey\u00a0published last month by the Pacific Resource Partnership found 58 percent support for legalization.<\/p>\n

In November, the AG\u2019s office\u00a0defended an earlier version of the legislation it put forward<\/a>\u00a0earlier that month after law enforcement officials criticized the proposed reform. David Day, a special assistant with the attorney general\u2019s office, said at the time that the concerns were overblown and the legalization measure that\u2019s been put forward deliberately took into account law enforcement perspectives.<\/p>\n

Advocates struggled under former Democratic Gov. Dave Ige, who resisted legalization in part because he said he was reluctant to pass something that conflicts with federal law. But since Green took office, activists have felt more emboldened. Green said in 2022 that he\u2019d sign a bill to legalize cannabis for adults and already had ideas about how tax revenue could be utilized.<\/p>\n

Last April, the Hawaii legislature also approved a resolution calling on the governor to create a\u00a0clemency program for people with prior marijuana convictions on their records<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for other drug policy matters, lawmakers last month advanced a bill that would provide certain\u00a0legal protections to patients engaging in psilocybin-assisted therapy<\/a>\u00a0with a medical professional\u2019s approval. The measure would not legalize psilocybin itself but would instead create an affirmative legal defense for psilocybin use and possession in the case of doctor-approved use under the guidance of a trained facilitator.<\/p>\n

The proposal has support from some state agencies, such as the Disability and Communications Access Board and governor\u2019s Office of Wellness and Resilience (OWR), as well as a variety of reform advocates, including the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center and the Clarity Project.<\/p>\n

Opponents include some medical groups, including the Hawaii Medical Association and Hawaii Academy of Family Physicians, which said there\u2019s still too little information about the safety and efficacy of psilocybin.<\/p>\n

\n

Bipartisan Lawmakers \u2018Deeply Troubled\u2019 By \u2018Unacceptable\u2019 Marijuana Research Barriers That Persist Under New Law<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Hawaii Senate Panel Guts House-Passed Marijuana Expungements Bill, Limiting It To A Single-County Pilot Program<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: Hawaii Senate Panel Guts House-Passed Marijuana Expungements Bill, Limiting It To A Single-County Pilot Program<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Hawaii Senate panel has significantly scaled back a measure that\u2014as passed by the House last week\u2014would have directed the state to automatically expunge tens of thousands of arrest and conviction records for low-level marijuana possession, amending the proposal to instead limit the relief\u00a0 to a one-county pilot program. TheContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73212,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73211\/revisions\/73212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}