HB 1289 Summary

• Implements 25 recommendations from the Criminal Pretrial Task Force to reform Hawaii's criminal pretrial system by improving risk assessments, expanding pretrial release options, and protecting public safety.

• Requires intake service centers to conduct pretrial risk assessments within two working days of admission, include financial circumstances and violence risk evaluation, and periodically review assessment tools every five years with public reporting.

• Permits law enforcement to issue citations in lieu of arrest for non-violent class C felonies, misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors, and traffic offenses when the officer is reasonably satisfied the person will appear in court.

• Establishes rebuttable presumptions for pretrial release of non-serious crime defendants and requires monetary bail to be set in reasonable amounts; mandates release on recognizance for traffic, violation, and non-violent petty misdemeanor and misdemeanor offenses except in specified circumstances.

• Creates a permanently funded Criminal Justice Research Institute under the chief justice to collect statewide data, monitor evidence-based practices, conduct cost-benefit analyses, and issue annual reports evaluating pretrial system effectiveness.

• Authorizes electronic monitoring and home detention as pretrial release alternatives and appropriates funding for intake service centers to support pretrial defendants through treatment programs, housing, day-reporting centers, and supervision services.