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The Senate Judiciary Committee deferred a bill Wednesday that sought to use geographic restrictions to make Waikiki safer.
The bill, proposed by Sen. Sharon Moriwaki (D, Waikiki-Ala Moana-Kakaako), would have allowed a judge to sentence a defendants who has been convicted
of three misdemeanors in Waikiki to a probationary term that would prohibit them from entering Waikiki between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Violators would face 30 days’ imprisonment.
Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Karl Rhoads (D, Downtown-Nuuanu-
Liliha) said “the problem as I see it is that if they aren’t in Waikiki, they are in someone else’s neighborhood. No matter what you do, they’re going to be somewhere.”
The state Office of the Public Defender opposed the measure as “overbroad” and did not consider that offenders may live or work in Waikiki. The public defender’s office, along with Unite Here Local 5 and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, feared that the measure could be used to sweep homeless people from the district.
Local 5, which just ended a 51-day strike in late November, also said that the measure “could be used to suppress protests and concerted labor actions in Waikiki.”
The Honolulu Police
Department and Michael Kitchens, creator of the statewide community watch group Stolen Stuff Hawaii, supported the measure as did the Hawai‘i Lodging &Tourism Association.
HLTA President and CEO Mufi Hannemann said he’ll renew discussion on the measure in March during HLTA’s second crime summit. Last year’s inaugural HLTA-hosted Visitor Public Safety Conference attracted 200 stakeholders from the visitor industry, law enforcement, business, armed services, and the community, he said.
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