HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawaii State Senate passed Senate Bill 36.
S.B. 36 is a bill restoring procedure for initiating felony cases.
This is in response to a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling that says preliminary hearings are no longer valid for charging serious crimes and indictments from grand juries are needed.
Referencing this bill specifies that a person may be tried and sentenced for certain alleged felony offenses through the complaint and preliminary hearing process, written information or indictment by a grand jury.
In addition, it also says that multiple attempts to initiate a felony prosecution for the same offense, through the same initial charging method or different shall not be permitted, only in certain circumstances.
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S.B. 36 is now moving to the Hawaii State House of Representatives for consideration.