New Hawaii laws protect abortions, restore practice of charging defendants

Dan Nakaso, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
·2 min read
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Mar. 23—Two new Hawaii laws will allow island prosecutors to return to the 40-year-old practice of how they charge criminal defendants — and a second protects abortions and healthcare workers who provide them, even from out-of-state prosecution.

Gov. Josh Green signed Act 1 and Act 2 into law today to applause, surrounded by members of the House and Senate.

Green, a former state senator, said "it doesn't happen too often" that bills become law just barely mid-way through a legislative session.

But both bills were passed by both the House and Senate because of the urgency to respond to the Hawaii Supreme Court's so-called "Obrero decision" in September that overturned how defendants are charged with major crimes; and the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson overturning a woman's guarantee to a right to an abortion, which had been ensured in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Asked how Hawaii will respond to a complaint from another state that wants to prosecute a Hawaii healthcare worker for performing an abortion on one of its residents, Green said: "We'll reject it out of hand. We'll look at it, but we'll reject it out of hand."

Act 1 was the Legislature's response to the Hawaii Supreme Court's 3-2 ruling that prosecutors cannot seek other ways to charge defendants with major crimes after a grand jury decides not to issue an indictment. Instead, Act 1 clarifies that defendant's may be charged "through the complaint and preliminary hearing process, indictment by grand jury, or by written information," returning to procedures that had been in effect before the Supreme Court's Obrero ruling.

In a separate issue, Green said that his nominee to lead the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism wants to take his confirmation vote to the full 25-member Senate after the Senate Committee on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism last week voted 4-1 against his confirmation.

"He just wants to serve," Green said. "It's that simple. ... This is not a gentleman that should be facing a difficult vote. ... It's important for people to know that he's qualified."