Report Title:

Terrorism

Description:

Provides Hawaii law enforcement officials with the tools to effectively investigate and prosecute terrorist activities and to deter terrorists with significant penalties.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1276

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO TERRORISM.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Chapter 707, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"PART . TERRORISM

§707- Terrorism. (1) A person is guilty of the crime of terrorism if the person, with intent to terrorize five or more persons, or with intent to influence the policy or affect the conduct of government by terror, commits, attempts to commit, conspires to commit, or threatens to commit:

(a) Murder in the first or second degree;

(b) Manslaughter;

(c) Assault in the first degree;

(d) Kidnapping;

(e) Criminal property damage in the first or second degree;

(f) Any felony violation of part IX, computer crime of chapter 708

(g) Impersonating a law enforcement officer in the first or second degree; or

(h) Any felony violation of chapter 134.

(2) Terrorism is a class A felony.

(3) As used in this section:

"Government" means the United States, any state, county, municipality, or other political unit, or any department, agency or subdivision of any of the foregoing, or any corporation or other association carrying out the functions of government.

"Terror" means intense fear.

"Terrorize" means to cause terror by words or actions.

(4) A prosecution pursuant to this section may be brought by the attorney general or a county prosecutor.

(5) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a conviction under this section shall not merge with a conviction of any other offense, nor shall such other conviction merge with a conviction under this section, and the court shall impose separate sentences upon each violation of this section and any other offense.

(6) Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to preclude, if the evidence so warrants, a charge and conviction for murder in the first or second degree or a charge and conviction for any other crime.

§707- Hindering apprehension or prosecution for terrorism. (1) A person commits the offense of hindering apprehension or prosecution for terrorism if the person does any one of the following, with intent to hinder the detention, apprehension, investigation, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another person for the crime of terrorism:

(a) Harbors or conceals such other person;

(b) Provides or aids in providing such other person with a weapon, money, transportation, disguise, or other means of avoiding discovery or apprehension or effecting escape;

(c) Suppresses, by way of concealment or destruction, any evidence of the crime, or tampers with a witness, informant, document, or other source of information, regardless of its admissibility in evidence, which might aid in the discovery or apprehension of such other person or in the lodging of a charge against such other person;

(d) Warns such other person of impending discovery or apprehension, except that this paragraph does not apply to a warning given in connection with an effort to bring such other person into compliance with law;

(e) Prevents or obstructs, by means of force, intimidation, or deception, anyone from performing an act that might aid in the discovery or apprehension of such other person or in the lodging of a charge against such other person;

(f) Aids such other person to protect or expeditiously profit from an advantage derived from the crime of terrorism; or

(g) Gives false information to a law enforcement officer.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), hindering apprehension or prosecution for terrorism is a class B felony.

(3) In a prosecution for hindering apprehension or prosecution for terrorism, it is a defense that reduces the offense to a class C felony that the defendant, subsequent to the defendant's commission of the offense, fully cooperated with investigator's efforts to locate the terrorism suspect and that no death or serious bodily injury of a person occurred as a result of the offense.

§707- Unlawful production or possession of a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. (1) A person commits the offense of unlawful production or possession of a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon if the person intentionally or knowingly, for use as a weapon, unlawfully develops, produces, acquires, transfers, receives, stockpiles, retains, owns, possesses, or uses, any chemical weapon, biological weapon, nuclear weapon, toxin, vector, or delivery system.

(2) Unlawful production or possession of a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon is a class A felony.

(3) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a conviction under this section shall not merge with a conviction of any other offense, nor shall such other conviction merge with a conviction under this section, and the court shall impose separate sentences upon each violation of this section and any other offense.

(4) Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to preclude, if the evidence so warrants, a charge and conviction for murder in the first or second degree or a charge and conviction for any other crime.

(5) As used in this section:

"Chemical weapon" means:

(a) A toxic chemical and its precursors, except where intended for a lawful purpose as long as the type and quantity is consistent with such a purpose. "Chemical weapon" shall include, but not be limited to:

(i) Nerve agents, including Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), GF, and VX;

(ii) Choking agents, including Phosgene (CG) and Diphosgene (DP);

(iii) Blood agents, including Hydrogen Cyanide (AC), Cyanogen Chloride (CK), and Arsine (SA);

(iv) Blister agents, including mustards (H, HD {sulfur mustard}, HN-1, HN-2, HN-3 {nitrogen mustard}), arsenicals, such as Lewisite (L), urticants, including CX; and

(v) Incapacitating agents, including BZ; or

(b) A munition or device, specifically designed to cause death or other harm through toxic properties of those toxic chemicals specified in paragraph (a) of this definition, which would be released as a result of the employment of such munition or device; or

(c) Any equipment specifically designed for use directly in connection with the employment of munitions or devices specified in paragraph (b) of this definition.

"Biological weapon" means any microorganism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology, or any naturally occurring or bioengineered component of any such microorganism, virus, infectious substance, or biological product, capable of causing:

(a) Death, disease, or other biological malfunction in a human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism; or

(b) Deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or material of any kind; or

(c) Deleterious alteration of the environment.

"Biological weapon" shall include, but not be limited to: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, ebola viruses, equine morbilli virus, lassa fever virus, marburg virus, Rift Valley fever virus, South African hemorrhagic fever viruses (Junin, Machupo, Sabia, Flexal, Guanarito), tick-borne encephalitis complex viruses, variola major virus (smallpox virus), Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, viruses causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and yellow fever virus, bacillus antracis (commonly known as anthrax), brucella bortus, brucella melitensis, brucella suis, burkholderia (pseudomonas) mallei, burkholderia (pseudomonas) pseudomallei, clostridium botulinum, francisella tularensis, yersinia pestis (commonly known as plague), rickettsiae, including coxiella burnetii, rickettsia prowazekii and rickettsia rickettsii, coccidioides immitis fungus, and toxins including abrin, aflatoxins, botulinum toxins, clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin, conotoxins, diacetoxyscirpenol, ricin, saxitoxin, shigatoxin, staphyloccoccal enterotoxins, tetrodotoxin, and T-2 toxin.

"Toxin" means the toxic material of plants, animals, microorganisms, viruses, fungi, or infectious substances, or a recombinant molecule, whatever its origin or method of production, including:

(a) Any poisonous substance or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology or produced by a living organism; or

(b) Any poisonous isomer or biological product, homolog, or derivative of such a substance.

"Vector" means a living organism or molecule, including a recombinant molecule, or biological product that may be engineered as a result of biotechnology, capable of carrying a biological agent or toxin to a host.

"Nuclear weapon" includes any nuclear device that is an explosive device designed to cause a nuclear yield, a radiological dispersal device that is an explosive device used to spread radioactive material, or any other device used to release radiological material for use as a weapon.

"Delivery system" means any apparatus, equipment, device, or means of delivery specifically designed to deliver or disseminate a chemical weapon, biological weapon, a nuclear weapon, a toxin, or any vector.

"For use as a weapon" means all situations in which the defendant had any purpose other than a prophylactic, protective, or peaceful purpose.

(6) This section shall not apply to the development, production, acquisition, transfer, receipt, possession, or use of any toxic chemical, biological agent, toxin, or vector that is related to a lawful industrial, agricultural, research, medical, pharmaceutical, or other activity.

(7) This section shall not apply to individual self-defense devices, such as pepper spray, that cause no permanent harm to humans and possession of which is otherwise lawful.

§707- Malicious hoax by means of an imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. (1) A person commits the offense of malicious hoax by means of an imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon if the person, in reckless disregard of the risk of causing fear or alarm in one or more persons, intentionally or knowingly, exposes one or more other persons to an imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon in a manner that causes one or more other persons to reasonably conclude that the health or safety of one or more other persons is at risk from the exposure.

(2) As used in this section:

"Imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon" means an item or substance that is not a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon, but which by appearance (including color, shape, size, and markings), or by representations made, would lead a reasonable person to believe that the item is a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. In any case, when the appearance is not reasonably sufficient to establish that the substance is an "imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon" (for example in the case of powder or liquid), the court or authority concerned shall consider, in addition to all other logically relevant factors, the following factors as related to representations made in determining whether the substance is an "imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon":

(a) Statements made by an owner or by anyone else in control of the item or substance concerning the nature of the substance, or its use or effect;

(b) Whether the item or substance is delivered in a manner previously used to deliver actual chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, including, but not limited to, the mailing of a white or pale powdery substance in an envelope or other container that bears a false return address or no return address;

(c) Whether the item or substance is packaged in a manner normally used for chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons;

(d) Evasive tactics or actions utilized by the owner or person in control of the item or substance to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities;

(e) Prior state or federal convictions, if any, of an owner, or anyone in control of the item or substance, related to terrorism or the possession or use of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, or prior convictions for terroristic threatening, reckless endangering, or prior convictions for crimes involving the use of a widely dangerous means; and

(f) The proximity of the item or substance to chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

(3) Malicious hoax by means of an imitation chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon is a class C felony.

§707- Making a false public alarm in the first degree. (1) A person is guilty of making a false public alarm in the first degree if:

(a) The person knowingly causes by word or action, a report to be transmitted to or within any official or volunteer organization responsible for dealing with emergencies involving danger to life or property;

(b) The report is a warning of an impending chemical hazard, biological hazard, nuclear hazard, fire, explosion, bombing, crime, catastrophe, or emergency;

(c) The person makes the report knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport, or to cause public inconveniences or alarm;

(d) The person acts in reckless disregard of the risk of causing a death; and

(e) The person’s violation of this section in fact results in a death.

(2) Making a false public alarm in the first degree is a class A felony.

(3) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a conviction under this section shall not merge with a conviction of any other offense, nor shall such other conviction merge with a conviction under this section, and the court shall impose separate sentences upon each violation of this section and any other offense.

§707- Making a false public alarm in the second degree. (1) A person is guilty of making a false public alarm in the second degree if:

(a) The person knowingly causes, by word or action, a report to be transmitted to or within any official or volunteer organization responsible for dealing with emergencies involving danger to life or property;

(b) The report is a warning of an impending chemical hazard, biological hazard, nuclear hazard, fire, explosion, bombing, crime, catastrophe, or emergency;

(c) The person makes the report knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm; and

(d) The person’s violation of this section:

(i) Includes placing or causing to be placed any bomb, imitation bomb, dangerous instrument, or widely dangerous means in a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport or in a place likely to cause public inconvenience or alarm;

(ii) Includes reckless disregard of the risk of serious bodily injury to others, and the person's violation in fact results in serious bodily injury to another person; or

(iii) Occurs during a declared period of national, state, or county emergency.

(2) Making a false public alarm in the second degree is a class B felony.

(3) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a conviction under this section shall not merge with a conviction of any other offense, nor shall such other conviction merge with a conviction under this section, and the court shall impose separate sentences upon each violation of this section and any other offense."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST