STAND. COM. REP. NO. 921________

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1501
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which
was referred H.B. No. 1501 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WIRETAPPING AND ELECTRONIC
     SURVEILLANCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to replace the current state
wiretapping and electronic surveillance law with a version which
conforms more closely to federal law.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this bill
from the Department of the Attorney General, Office of
Information Practices, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney,
City and County of Honolulu, and the Honolulu Police Department.
Testifying in opposition to this bill was the Office of the
Public Defender.  Also testifying as to the experience federal
prosecutors have had with national wiretapping and eavesdropping
legislation was the United States Attorney's Office for the
District of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that the use of wiretaps and electronic
surveillance is important to effective law enforcement.  Such
methods can provide valuable information and evidence which may
be used in the prevention or prosecution of criminal acts or to
exonerate persons under investigation.  Such information may not
be obtainable through any other means.


 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 921________
                                 Page 2

 
     These considerations must be balanced against fundamental
individual rights, such as the right to privacy and the right to
a fair trial.  Currently, Hawaii law provides its people with
significant individual privacy protections.

     Your Committee finds that the best way to maintain a balance
between these two interests is to adopt certain distinct features
of federal law while preserving the strong individual protections
existing in Hawaii's current law.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill as
follows:

     1) By requiring that applications for wiretaps specify how
        the wiretap is to be conducted, whether physical entry
        upon private premises is necessary and support therefore;

     2) By requiring an adversary hearing prior to the approval
        of a wiretap;

     3) By preserving existing safeguards concerning the methods
        of targeting communications or conversations;

     4) Allowing only the Attorney General or the Prosecutor of
        each County to authorize emergency wiretaps;

     5) Changing the time in which the prosecutor must notify the
        defense of the intercepted communications and application
        material from ten days prior to trial or hearing to
        thirty days;

     6) Removing the discretion of judges to allow discovery of
        intercepted communications and application material and
        require disclosure of the same;

     7) Eliminating those provisions creating a surveillance
        applications oversight unit within the Department of the
        Attorney General and related provisions establishing
        funding mechanisms; and

     8) Incorporating other non-substantive amendments for
        purposes of style, clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 1501, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No.
1501, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 921________
                                 Page 3

 
                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary &
                                   Hawaiian Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   PAUL T. OSHIRO, Chair