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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 2008-181 2006-2008COUNTY OF HAWAII ORDINANCE NO. STATE OF HAWAII ®$ 1A~BILLNO. AN ORDINANCE ADDING A NEW ARTICLE TO T_ HE HAWAII COUNTY CODE (2005 EDITION, AS AMENDED) BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII SECTION 1: TITLE This Article shall be known as the LOWEST LAW ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY OF CANNABIS ORDINANCE SECTION 2: PURPOSE The purpose of this Article is to; (a) Provide law enforcement more time and resources to focus on serious crimes. (b) Allow our court systems to run more efficiently; (c) Create space in our prisons to hold serious criminals; (d) Save taxpayers money and provide more funding for necessities such as education and health care. (e) Reduce the fear of prosecution and the stigma of criminality from non-violent citizens who harmlessly cultivate and/or use Cannabis for personal, medicinal, religious, and recreational purposes. SECTION 3: FINDINGS (a) The Institute of Medicine has found that Cannabis (marijuana) has medicinal value and is not a gateway drug. (b) According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the use of Cannabis (marijuana) directly results in 0 (zero) deaths per year. (c) According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), the marijuana eradication program has not stopped Cannabis cultivation in the County of Hawaii, rather the program has only decreased the availability of the plant, which increases its `street' value, resulting in more crime. (d) The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) also reported that a large increase of the use of methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and other hard drugs was related to the marijuana eradication program's implementation. (e) According to public record, the `mandatory program review' for the marijuana eradication program, required by Section 3-16 of the County Charter to be performed at least once every 4 years, has never been performed in the 30 years that the program has existed. (f) Law abiding adults are being arrested and imprisoned for nonviolent Cannabis offenses, clogging our court dockets, overcrowding our prisons, tying up valuable law enforcement resources and costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in Hawaii County alone each year. (g) The citizens of the Cities of Hailey, Idaho; Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; Columbia, Missouri; Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Santa Barbara, Oakland, Santa Monica and Santa Cruz, in California, and the citizens of Missoula County, Montana, all voted for Cannabis (marijuana) to be placed as law enforcement's lowest priority within the past five years. SECTION 4: DEFINITIONS (a) "Adult" means any individual who is 21 (twenty one) years of age or older. (b) "Adult personal use" means the use of Cannabis on private property by adults. It does not include: (a) distribution or sale of Cannabis; (b) distribution, sale, cultivation, or use of Cannabis on public property; (c) driving under the influence; or (d) the commercial trafficking of Cannabis, or the possession of amounts of Cannabis in excess of the amounts defined as being appropriate for adult personal use (b) "Marijuana", (as defined in the Hawaii Revised Statutes of Chapter 712-1240) means Cannabis. (c) "Cannabis" means all parts of the Cannabis plant, whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the Cannabis plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds, or its resin. (d) "Lowest Law Enforcement Priority" means a priority such that all law enforcement activities related to all offenses other than the possession or cultivation of Cannabis for adult personal use shall be a higher priority than all law enforcement activities related to the adult personal use of Cannabis. The Lowest Law Enforcement Priority regarding possession or cultivation of Cannabis shall apply to any single case involving 24 (twenty four) or fewer Cannabis plants at any stage of maturity or the equivalent in dried Cannabis, where the Cannabis was intended for adult personal use. (e) The "dried equivalent" of 24 or fewer Cannabis plants shall be presumed to be 24 (twenty four) or fewer ounces of usable Cannabis, excluding stems and other non active parts. A greater amount may also fall under the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority provisions described herein if such amount is shown by competent evidence to be no more than the dried equivalent of 24 plants. SECTION 5: LOWEST LAW ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY POLICY RELATING TO THE ADULT PERSONAL US OF CANNABIS (a) The cultivation, possession and use for adult personal use of Cannabis shall be the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority for law enforcement agencies in the county of Hawaii. (b) The County of Hawaii's County Council, the Police Commissioner, the Chief of Police and all associated law enforcement staff, deputies, officers and any attorney prosecuting on behalf of the County of Hawaii shall make law enforcement activity relating to Cannabis offenses, where the Cannabis was intended for adult personal use, their Lowest Law Enforcement Priority. Law enforcement activities relating to Cannabis offenses include but are not limited to the prosecution of Cannabis offenses involving only the adult personal use of Cannabis; (c) Neither the Chief of Police, the Police Commissioner, nor any attorney prosecuting on behalf of the County of Hawai' i, nor any associated law enforcement staff, deputies, nor officers shall seek, accept or renew any formal or informal deputization or commissioning by a federal law enforcement agency for the purpose of investigating, citing, or arresting adults, nor for searching or seizing property from adults for Cannabis offenses subject to the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis where such activities would be in violation of that policy, nor shall such authorities exercise such powers that may be ancillary to deputization or commissioning for another purpose. (d) The Hawaii County Council shall not authorize the acceptance or the issuing of any funding that is intended be used to investigate, cite, arrest, prosecute, search or seize property from adults for Cannabis offenses in a manner inconsistent with the county's Lowest Law Enforcement Priority policy. SECTION 6: COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS To the full extent allowed by the Constitution of the State of Hawaii, the people, through their county government, request that neither the County Prosecuting Attorney nor any attorney prosecuting on behalf of the County of Hawaii shall prosecute any violations of the sections of Chapter 712-1240 of the Hawai' i Revised Statutes regarding possession or cultivation of Cannabis in a manner inconsistent with The Lowest Law Enforcement Priority, as described in Section 4 and 5 of this article; in cases where the amount possessed or grown is less than 24 (twenty four) plants or the dried equivalent, possession for adult personal use shall be presumed. SECTION 7: EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS FOR CANNABIS ENFORCEMENT (a) Neither the Hawaii County Council, nor the Police Commissioner, nor the Chief of Police, nor any attorneys prosecuting on behalf of the County of Hawaii, nor any associated law enforcement staff, deputies, or officers shall spend or authorize the expenditure of any public funds for the investigation, arrest, or prosecution of any person, nor for the search or seizure of any property in a manner inconsistent with the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority as defined in Section 4 and 5 of this article. (b) The Hawaii County Council shall not support the acceptance of any funds for the marijuana eradication program. SECTION 8: COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT The Hawaii County Council shall ensure the timely implementation of this chapter by working with the Chief of Police and/or the Police Commissioner to; (a) provide for procedures to receive grievances from individuals who believe that they were subjected to law enforcement activity contrary to the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis, which is described in Sections 4 and 5 of this Article; (b) publish a report semi-annually on the implementation of this chapter every first 4 day of June and every first day of December, from this day forward, with the first report being issued June 1, 2009. These reports shall include but not be limited to: the number of all arrests, citations, property seizures, and prosecutions for all Cannabis offenses in the county of Hawaii, the number of complaints regarding marijuana eradication over-flights; the breakdown of all Cannabis arrests and citations by race, age, specific charge, and classification as infraction, misdemeanor, or felony, the estimated time and money spent by the County on law enforcement and punishment for adult Cannabis offenses, and any instances of officers or deputies assisting in state or federal enforcement of adult Cannabis offenses. These reports shall be published with the cooperation of the County of Hawaii's Prosecuting Attorney, the Chief of Police, and all associated law enforcement staff in providing needed data. SECTION 9: NOTIFICATION OF LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS After the enactment of this Article, the County Clerk shall send letters on an annual basis (every June 1 s` of each year) to the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, the County of Hawaii voters' Congressional Delegation, Hawaii's U.S. senators, the County of Hawaii voters' representatives in the Hawaii State Legislature, the Governor of Hawaii, and the President of the United States. This letter shall state; "The citizens of the County of Hawaii have passed an initiative to make Cannabis offenses the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority, where the Cannabis is intended for adult personal use, and request that the federal and state branches of government remove criminal penalties for the cultivation, possession and use of Cannabis for adult personal use; the citizens also request that Cannabis policies here within the county of Hawaii be dealt with from our local law enforcement only." The letters may also state, be it the will of the County Council; that according to the 3 year study performed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more people used methamphetamine as a result of the marijuana eradication program; they may also express that methamphetamine is a growing problem in our community and more help would be appreciated in that area, and that the first action that would help in that area would be to end the marijuana eradication program. This duty shall be carried out until state and federal laws are changed accordingly. SECTION 10: STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION All provisions in this article shall only be implemented to the full extent that the Constitution of the State of Hawai i and the Hawaii Revised Statutes allows, and in the event, and only in the event, that a court of competent jurisdiction determines that any provision in any section of this article may not be directed by voter initiative or by action of the County Council, then that specific mandatory provision only shall be deemed advisory and expression of the will of the people that the provision shall be implemented into law by whichever government branch or official who has the power to implement it, and that the Hawaii County Council shall take all actions within their power to work with those branches of government to express the will of the people and encourage, support, and request the implementation of those provisions. SECTION 11: SEVERABILITY In the event, and only in the event, that a court of competent jurisdiction should find one or more of the sections, or parts of the sections of this Article illegal, or any provision of this Article or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the Article and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. INTRODUCED COUNCIL IvyE1wIBER, COUNTY OF HAWA1`1 Kona , H Date of Introduction Date of 15` Reading: Date of 2"d Reading: Date of 3rd Reading: Effective Date: dwai`i ~/ August 13, 2008 N/A N/A N/A November 4, 2008 REFERENCE Coma: 1348.3 6 THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK COUNTY OF HAWAI`1 In the Matter of ) A Proposed Initiative Amendment to thc) CERTIFICATE OF RESULTS Hawaii County Code ) CERTIFICATE OF RESULTS In compliance with section 11-156, Hawaii Revised Statutes, I, KENNETH G. GOODENOW, Cuunty Clerlc, County of I Iawai`i, in the capacity of the chief election officer of the County pursuant to section 3-6(6)(3) of the Hawaii County Charter, do hereby certify that the proposed initiative to amend the Hawaii County Code was submitted to the voters of the County of F-Iawai`i on November, 4, 2008. I hereby further certify that the proposed initiative amendment was duly approved by a majority of voters voting on said initiative amendment: Proposal I Should the Hawaii County Code be amended to add a new article that would be titled and known as the "Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance'', which would: direct the county to make law enforcement related to Cannabis (marijuana) offenses. when the Cannabis is only intended for adult personal use, their lowest law enforcement priority; define "adult personal use" to include the use of Cannabis on private property only by persons twenty one years of age or older; prevent county la-w enforcement officials from accepting deputization or commissions from a federal law enforcement agency for purposes of investigating, citing, or arresting citizens or searching or seizing their property if doing so is inconsistent with the lowest law enforcement priority of Cannabis ordinance; prohibit the Hawaii County Council from authorizing the acceptance of or issuing funding to be used to investigate, cite, arrest, prosecute, search or seize property from adults when doing so would be inconsistent with the lowest law enforcement priority for Cannabis policy; and direct the County Council not to support the acceptance of any funds for the marijuana eradication program? Voters voting "FOR" 35,689 Voters voting "AGAINS"I'° 25,940 IN W 1'TNESS WHERF..OE, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the County of Hnwai'i. Stale of Hawaii to be affixed this 23rd day of December, 2008. -~ ~~ !~ KENNETH G. GOODENOW, Clerl: County of Hawaii OFFICI' CJP THE COUNTY CLERK Ct.~unty of Hawaii ,bona .Hawaii In!rodu•.:cci ltv: Bob Jacobson Date Introduced: August 13, 2008 firs! Reading: NSA P!!blished: N/A lZ~hiARK.1: August 13, 2008: The motion foi: approval of Bill 335 failed due to the -respective "no" votes. Ncvernl_~er__4,_2008: Subrrtitted to the voters of the County of Hawaii. C ~ ti ate >' Results: ~eu> --Re,~i ,µ. _December 23, 2G08 "ibMav~r: December 23, 2008 R.•:w„cd: Decerber 31, 2008 F.f2aiv~~ November 4, 2008 ___ i'u~;~!isin~d. Jam.iary 19, 2009 RFd-i•:KK:~'_ <v'ovember 4, 2008: The cop:__sed initiative amendment was subtnir_~ed to the voters of the County and duly approved by the majority of the voters. RECEIVE!.' 11~F:_ 3~a.-~,.--- -- sr-~ tbro__-----`-11311 o F -_ Cc+v^ty Cnundl ~~~ -- -- _ _ ~LCA wit _ I AYES T NOES ABS eX ~ F'ord ~I i iga X X ----IIII ~- ---- IFII I -~~ Hoffmann X ~ ~ Ikeda X Jacobson X ~ 1 I Naeole X ' ---~-- - -- t i Pilaao X Yaaon~ X i i ' I '~ Yoshimoto -- X ' ----- - - I - ~ 0 ~ L- ~ _~.0 _ ~' CERTIF[CATe QF RGSULI'S Please see "exhibit I" (attached} i i x ~`: iit., ' .v' ~7.«t%f'v ~hcrt the ~oregoirig PI/ / ~~.~ rd~ ~ew by the Cnun(y Council publisked us ir,licxued above. AI'RF=~„1C'~ AS TO FOR(W; F,iVJ LEGALITY: c~ouN~cii ci~,vizi~c ason Pl} i `r COF~PORATION COUNSEL „_'JNTY i~F f-iAWAI'I ~ COUNTP CLF)2K '~5 Bill Nn.. C-1-v8 ?!wa ed-PC~iR~ Reference --------QQ--a--------..._._._ _ .. Ord No.. ®~J .bR~ 1:'l ~' %il. L'OU-VTI' Oh /L9 61!AI "/ CEI2'I'IFICATE OF RESULTS Proposal I Should the Hawaii County Code be amended to add a new article that would be titled and known as the "Lowest Law Enforcement Priority of Cannabis Ordinance', which would: direct the county to make law enforcement related to Cannabis (marijuana) offenses, when the Cannabis is only intended for adult personal use, their lowest law enforcement priority; define "adult personal use" to include the use of Cannabis on private property only by persons twenty one years of age or older; prevent county law enforcement officials from accepting deputization or commissions from a federal law enforcement agency for purposes of investigating, citing, or arresting citizens or searching or seizing their property if doing so is inconsistent with the lowest law enforcement priority of Cannabis ordinance; prohibit the Hawaii County Council from authorizing the acceptance of or issuing funding to be used to investigate, cite, arrest, prosecute, search or seize property from adults when doing so would be inconsistent with the lowest law enforcement priority for Cannabis policy; and direct the County Council not to support the acceptance of any fiords for the marijuana eradication program? Voters voting "E'OR" 35,689 Voters voting "AGAINST" 25,940 "Exhibit 1" Ordinance Number 08-181 I hereby certify that the following Ordinance was submitted to the voters of the County and duly approved by the majority of the voters on November 4, 2008, as listed below: Ordinance 08-181 (Bill 335): An Ordinatlce Adding a New Article to the Hawaii County Code (2005 Edition, as Amended). Voters voting "For": 35,689 Voters voting "Against": 25,940 ~~..m..~ K`+enneth G. Goodenow County Clerk (Hawai`i Tribune-Herald: January 19, 2009) (West Hawaii Today: January 19, 2009)