Officials back stronger
wiretap, surveillance lawA bill would permit taps or surveillance
By Pat Omandam
if only one party agrees to it
Star-BulletinHawaii's crimefighters say a Senate bill that patterns the state's wiretap and electronic surveillance laws after federal statutes would give them better tools to take an effective bite out of crime. Capt. Harry J. Auld, head of Honolulu Police Department's Crime Intelligence Unit, said wiretapping and electronic surveillance are valuable and quintessential investigative tools that will allow county police departments to conduct more investigations.
Auld said Senate Bill 2400, among other things, would allow county police departments to install a video or audio recorder in a private place with the consent of only one party.
Moreover, it allows police to use wiretaps and electronic surveillance during emergency conditions such as a murder-for-hire, when people's lives are being threatened.
"If you were the target of a hit man, would you want us to have that use in our investigation?" Auld asked a joint Senate committee yesterday.
The committees will vote on the measure next Tuesday. The bill is part of the Law Enforcement Coalition legislative package.
Elliott Enoki, first assistant U.S. Attorney in Hawaii, said the federal law covering wiretaps was enacted as part of the Title III Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, and amended by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.
So far, he said, the laws have been used with a great deal of success in a variety of cases, many of which have dealt with organized crime. There is often no substitute for the quality and quantity of evidence that can be obtained through a wiretap or other electronic surveillance, Enoki said.
"This can be especially true in regard to investigations seeking to identify the members and scope of an entire criminal organization, as opposed to participants in isolated acts of criminal activity," he said.
Although less sophisticated investigative measures usually are sufficient, those tactics don't often work on violent crimes which involve wire communications, as well as many forms of illegal gambling and drug dealing, said Deputy Attorney General Daniel A. Morris.
For example, recent trends among drug dealers show an increasing reliance on "call-and-deliver" schemes for distributing illegal drugs after police crack down on curbside street dealing. Still, Morris said nationwide statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration show drugs are being sold just as regularly, just not as blatantly.
The measure would eliminate obstacles found in current wiretap laws while preserving safeguards to limit potential for abuse, Morris said.
Nevertheless, the state Office of the Public Defender believes an amendment of the current law, and not a repeal, is needed. "Current law adequately balances law enforcement interests and the privacy right of our people," said Deputy Public Defender Ronette Kawakami.
Tax on time shares
By Mike Yuen
looks like sure thing
Star-BulletinWhile proposals to increase the general excise tax and strip nonprofits of their excise-tax exemption have been caught in a cross-fire of criticism, one tax hike initiative has drawn very little flak. The proposal to impose the equivalent of a hotel room tax on time-share occupancies appears -- at this early stage in the legislative process -- to have a reasonable chance of passing, several lawmakers and a hotel industry lobbyist said yesterday.
"It's more likely to pass this session. But nothing (in the Legislature) is ever a slam dunk," said state Rep. Michael White (D, Lahaina), a Maui hotel executive who supports the tax for equity reasons.
Murray Towill, president of the Hawaii Hotel Association, agreed with White.
The time-share occupancy tax proposal -- which has drawn very little opposition from outside the time-share industry -- is now before the House and Senate money committees, where the initiative is likely to be viewed positively.
House Finance Chairman Calvin Say (D, Palolo) said he is leaning in favor of the administration-backed measure that the House Tourism panel advanced to his committee.
The Senate is using as its bill a measure crafted by Senate Ways and Means Co-Chairwoman Rosalyn Baker (D, Lahaina), who has extensively studied the issue of taxing time shares, and who has been concerned about questionable practices used in selling time shares.
Even Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano and Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle, the Maui mayor, agree on the need for a time-share occupancy tax.
"Time shares are the equivalent of hotels and motels. They rent them out," Cayetano said. "They are part of the service to many tourists and people who want to visit here. I think it is appropriate for us to impose a hotel room tax on that industry."
The House measure, an initiative of the Economic Revitalization Task Force, would impose a 6 percent occupancy tax on the fair-market rental value of time shares.
The Senate measure that advanced from the Consumer Protection Committee leaves it up to Ways and Means to specify the amount. A 7 percent time-share occupancy tax has the potential of generating between $3.7 million and $5.3 million annually, according to Seiji Naya, director of the Business, Economic Development and Tourism Department.
Proponents of the tax see time shares -- whether they are hotel-converted nonownership plans or the more traditional fee interest limited to a certain time period -- as merely a periodic vacation rental and not the conventional real-estate ownership.
The average Hawaii time-share vacation purchaser buys 11 days a year in Hawaii, according to administration research. The selling pitch is that purchasers are buying tomorrow's vacation at today's prices.
LEGISLATURE UPDATE
A calendar of tomorrow's hearings -- to be held at the state Capitol, 415 S. Beretania St., unless noted:
HOUSE
Finance: Hearing on bills relating to elections, Campaign Spending Commission, search and rescue costs, and public safety, 10 a.m. Hearing at 12:30 p.m. scheduled to follow on bills relating to insurance, Hawaii Health Systems Corp., school safety and higher education. Hearing at 3 p.m. scheduled to follow on bills relating to Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and energy conservation tax credits. Decision-making to follow each hearing if time permits, Room 308.
SENATE
