HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

68

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

 

 

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

 


     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the criminal justice research institute was established by Act 179, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, within the office of the chief justice to assess the administrative and technological feasibility of collecting, aggregating, and reporting on criminal pretrial data for purposes of establishing a centralized statewide criminal pretrial justice data reporting and collection system.

     The legislature further finds that the criminal justice research institute staff conducted research to determine the feasibility of creating a statewide reporting system and identify the most effective and cost-efficient system for the State.  Agencies across the country were interviewed and researched to identify options for creating a statewide reporting system.  The criminal justice research institute examined statewide policies, operations, and data sources to map out necessary statewide data to create such a system.  Based on the results of the criminal justice research institute's research, the legislature finds that the approach most suited to fulfill the intent of Act 179, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, in an evidence-based and cost-efficient manner is to extract, link, and merge data from existing state databases into a centralized data warehouse.  Instead of creating a new database and duplicating data entry or requesting manual data extractions from agencies, technological solutions will work with existing data sources and merge them into a centralized location.

     In order to assess the feasibility of the technical work needed across different agency information technology systems, the criminal justice research institute selected information technology partners in fall 2022 to develop a technical plan to document the feasibility of extracting and linking criminal pretrial data and estimate the costs and timeline of establishing a statewide reporting system.  The legislature finds it is essential that the criminal justice research institute continue its partnership with the department of public safety, judiciary, and Hawaii criminal justice data center to incorporate the three main statewide sources of criminal pretrial data.  These three sources house the data and information necessary to calculate and report on criminal pretrial performance metrics in accordance with state law and evidence-based practices.

     The legislature recognizes that the creation of the statewide reporting system is a substantial and complex undertaking requiring interagency and interbranch collaboration, strategic planning, and resources to accomplish successfully.  Several key issues in establishing the system were identified, including combining data from different agencies' databases, many of which are the result of separate data and information technology systems; data primarily collected for operational purposes that must be converted for research; large amounts of data in text fields that may require a technological solution to convert it for quantitative analysis; and inconsistent data definitions across agencies, which prohibits efficient merging of data.  Although technology can create a statewide reporting system, it will take time and parallel efforts to address these challenges and improve data entry practices and the quality of the data.  These efforts can occur simultaneously while the system is developed.

     The legislature additionally finds that there are critical strengths with existing criminal pretrial data systems:  each agency holds an electronic database containing a wealth of information critical to the State's criminal pretrial system and data sources have an identifier for cases or people that will assist in linking the diverse data sources, thereby creating a process to merge data into a centralized location.  By leveraging technology to extract and link records, a significant amount of data collection for the statewide reporting system can be automated and streamlined.  This type of system will produce more timely metrics and reporting and generate more comprehensive metrics.

     The legislature further finds that it is technologically feasible to create a statewide reporting system.  However, this will only be possible with additional resources, as well as comprehensive, long-term planning and ongoing collaboration with the agencies that house pretrial data.

     Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to establish a centralized statewide criminal pretrial justice data reporting and collection system pursuant to state law.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,550,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and $1,200,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 for the establishment of a centralized statewide criminal pretrial justice data reporting and collection system pursuant to section 614-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the judiciary for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2023.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Criminal Justice Research Institute; Centralized Data System; Appropriation

 

Description:

Appropriates funds to establish a centralized statewide criminal pretrial justice data reporting and collection system pursuant to state law.

 

 

 

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