Editorial: Bail-reform bill too broad, unsafe

Bail reform is needed, and it’s overdue. It’s often unfair, and costly, to leave an indigent person charged with a crime to languish in jail for lack of bail, when a person of means would not.

However, in some cases, bail is not unfair. It can be a judge’s tool to ensure that those arrested and accused of crimes show up for court appearances and are called to account.

House Bill 1567 broadly eliminates a judge’s discretion to set bail, mandating no-bail release for people charged with a too-wide range of nonviolent offenses. That fails to protect Hawaii’s residents, and we call for its veto.

This flawed bail-reform bill was opposed by the state Department of the Attorney General, the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the Retail Merchants of Hawaii and the prosecuting attorneys for Hawaii, Maui and Honolulu counties, who warn that it is overbroad and strips judges of discretion over defendants. We agree with these criticisms.

While those charged with violent offenses, repeat offenders, parolees and defendants with a history of skipping court dates are not included in this bill’s “get out of jail free” scenario, those charged with theft from a vehicle, impersonating a law enforcement officer, identify theft or burglary of a business are.

Also exempted from any bail, if this bill becomes law, would be those charged with harassment by stalking, promoting gambling (for example, working “security” at a gambling den) and even certain firearm offenses.

Our views align with Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm, whose office opposed the bill. Alm said he supports elimination of the cash bail system — but only after procedures are adopted to protect public safety and ensure defendants show up for court.

Safeguards could be reinforced, Alm said, with more statewide resources for the courts and the Department of Public Safety’s intake division to assess defendants’ risk to the community and supervise them, if necessary, before trial.

At a time when rising crime, burglaries and petty theft are shaking residents’ sense of security, it’s troubling that the Legislature could not respond to these concerns, crafting a more effectively tailored bail-reform bill. Should the governor sign this bill, we would expect to see resources shifted to pre-trial assessment and supervision, statewide.

In this year of big spending, it’s also troubling that the Legislature has stifled continued planning for a jail to replace the deteriorating, inadequate and perpetually overcrowded Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC).

We share the frustrations over the need to improve the system. Criminal justice reform in 2019 created the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission, charged with monitoring jail (and prison) overcrowding and creating policies to prevent it. To date, the state has not done enough to support those intentions.

The commission backs HB 1567, which expressly states an intent to reduce jail population. And the Legislature explicitly put a new jail on hold to pressure the state into implementing bail reform, so that a smaller jail can be built. But that linkage is misguided.

As Department of Public Safety Director Max Otani has warned, stalling the planning process could lead to a program “reset,” delays of as much as a decade and much higher costs to complete even a smaller facility. That damage may already be done, and it also leaves Kalihi in a holding pattern, waiting for redevelopment at the OCCC site.

Hawaii is now caught between a rock and a hard place, with inadequate jail facilities, immense pressure to keep the jail counts down, and an inadequate bail-reform bill. The way forward? An effective reform bill, and action to replace OCCC as soon as possible.

Though well-intentioned on bail equity, HB 1567 falls short on public-safety guardrails. It should be vetoed by Gov. David Ige.