Report Title:

DLNR; Conservation and Resources Enforcement

Description:

Amends sections relating to the department's enforcement authority within the Kahoolawe island reserve and for the protection of caves for consistency. Expands the department's enforcement authority to all lands and waters of the state. (SD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2971

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 199-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§199-1[]] Board of land and natural resources, powers and duties. The board of land and natural resources shall establish within the department of land and natural resources a conservation and resources enforcement program relating to the enforcement of [chapters under] title 12 [entitled " Conservation and Resources,"], chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules [and regulations promulgated] adopted thereunder, and shall employ or appoint, and remove, the following persons, subject to chapter 76 and section 78-1, who shall be provided with suitable badges or insignia of office by the department of land and natural resources:

(1) An enforcement chief of the department of land and natural resources, who shall be the head of the conservation and resources enforcement program and shall have charge, direction, and control, subject to the direction and control of the board, of all matters relating to the enforcement of [state conservation and resources laws] title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules [and regulations promulgated] adopted thereunder and [such] any other matters as the board may from time to time direct. The enforcement chief shall be an administrator experienced in conservation and resources law enforcement and management.

(2) Personnel and enforcement officers of the conservation and resources enforcement program, including but not limited to enforcement officers on a voluntary basis and without pay. "

SECTION 2. Section 199-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§199-2[]] Board of land and natural resources, delegation of authority. The board of land and natural resources may delegate to enforcement officers within the conservation and resources enforcement program, [such] the authority as may be required for enforcement of [state conservation and resources laws] title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules [and regulations promulgated] adopted thereunder."

SECTION 3. Section 199-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The conservation and resources enforcement officers, with respect to all state lands, including public lands, state parks, forest reserves, forests, aquatic life and wildlife areas, Kaho`olawe island reserve, and any other lands and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the [department of land and natural resources,] State, shall:

(1) Enforce title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules adopted thereunder;

(2) Investigate complaints, gather evidence, conduct investigations, and conduct field observations and inspections as required or assigned;

(3) Cooperate with enforcement authorities of the State, counties, and federal government in development of programs and mutual aid agreements for conservation and resources enforcement activities within the State;

(4) Cooperate with established search and rescue agencies of the counties and the federal government in developing plans and programs and mutual aid agreements for search and rescue activities within the State;

(5) Check and verify all leases, permits, and licenses issued by the department of land and natural resources;

(6) Enforce the laws relating to firearms, ammunition, and dangerous weapons contained in chapter 134;

(7) Enforce the laws in chapter 291E relating to operating a vessel on or in the waters of the State while using intoxicants;

(8) Whether through a specifically designated marine patrol or otherwise, enforce the rules in the areas of boating safety, conservation, and search and rescue relative to the control and management of boating facilities owned or controlled by the State, ocean waters, and navigable streams and any activities thereon or therein, and beaches encumbered with easements in favor of the public, and the rules regulating vessels and their use in the waters of the State; and

(9) Carry out other duties and responsibilities as the board of land and natural resources from time to time may direct."

SECTION 4. Section 199-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amend to read as follows:

"§199-4 Board of land and natural resources, police powers. (a) The board of land and natural resources shall have police powers and may appoint and commission enforcement officers within the conservation and resources enforcement program. Persons appointed and commissioned under this section shall have and may exercise all of the powers and authority of a police officer, including the power of arrest, and [shall] in addition to enforcing title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules adopted thereunder, may enforce all other state laws and rules, and county ordinances within all [state lands, state shorewaters and shores, and county parks;] lands and waters under jurisdiction of the State; provided that [such] those powers shall remain in force and effect only while in actual performance of their duties, which shall include off-duty employment when [such] that employment is for other state departments or agencies. These enforcement officers shall consist of personnel whose primary duty will be the enforcement of title 12, [entitled "Conservation and Resources,"] chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and the rules adopted thereunder within the areas under the jurisdiction of the department of land and natural resources.

(b) An enforcement officer, upon arresting any person for violation of title 12 [and rules], chapter 6D, 6E, or 6K, or any rule adopted thereunder, may immediately take the person arrested to a police station or before a district judge, or take the name, address, and the number of the fishing, hunting, or other licenses or permits, if any, of the person, and note the violation of the law or rule by the person, and issue the person a summons or citation, printed in the form described in section 199-5, warning the person to appear and to answer to the charge against the person at a certain place and time within seven days after the arrest. Any person failing to obey a summons issued pursuant to this section shall be subject to section 199-6."

SECTION 5. Section 199-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

" §199-5 Summons or citation. There shall be a form of summons or citation for use in citing violators of title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules adopted thereunder, which do not mandate the physical arrest of the violators. The summons or citation shall be printed in a form commensurate with the form of other summons or citation used in modern methods of arrest and shall be so designed to include all necessary information to make it valid and legal within the laws and rules of the State. The form and content of the summons or citation shall be adopted or prescribed by the district courts.

In every case where a summons or citation is issued the original of the same shall be given to the violator; provided that the district courts may prescribe the issuance to the violator of a carbon copy of the summons or citation and provide for the disposition of the original and any other copies. Every summons or citation shall be consecutively numbered and each carbon copy shall bear the number of its respective original."

SECTION 6. Section 199-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§199-6 Failure to obey a summons. Any person who fails to appear at the place and within the time specified in the summons or citation issued by the officers or their agents or subordinates, upon that person's arrest for violation of title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules adopted thereunder, shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than $500 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.

If any person fails to comply with a summons or citation issued, or if any person fails or refuses to deposit bail as required and within the time permitted, the officers shall cause a complaint to be entered against the person and secure the issuance of a warrant for the person's arrest.

When a complaint is made to any prosecuting officer of the violation of title 12, chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, and rules adopted thereunder, the officer who issued the summons or citation shall subscribe to it under oath administered by another official or officials of the department of land and natural resources whose names have been submitted to the prosecuting officer and who have been designated by the chairperson of the board of land and natural resources to administer the same."

SECTION 7. Section 199-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Any police officer or agent of the department of land and natural resources upon whom the board of land and natural resources has conferred powers of police officers, shall have the authority to conduct searches on probable cause as provided by law and to seize any equipment, article, instrument, aircraft, vehicle, vessel, business records, or natural resource used or taken in violation of the provisions contained in chapters 6D, 6E, and 6K, or title 12, or any rules adopted thereunder. For purposes of this section, " natural resource" includes any archaeological artifacts, minerals, any aquatic life or wildlife or parts thereof, including their eggs, and any land plants or parts thereof, including seeds. "

SECTION 8. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.