LIHU‘E — The Judiciary Committee of the state House of Representatives will hear today a bill that could make it a petty misdemeanor to lie down across a bench at a bus stop. And just to make sure there will
LIHU‘E — The Judiciary Committee of the state House of Representatives will hear today a bill that could make it a petty misdemeanor to lie down across a bench at a bus stop.
And just to make sure there will be no lying around anywhere near a bus shelter, House Bill 31 also prohibits “sleeping on the ground within or abutting any bus stop shelter or other bus stop structure.”
In other words, as long as you are standing up or sitting straight up, it would still be OK to sleep under or near a bus shelter.
But as far as getting caught red-handed on Kaua‘i — while waiting an hour for the bus — the odds may not be that high, given that nearly 90 out of the more than 120 bus stops on Kaua‘i are unsheltered. And less than 10 of those shelters are county-provided.
Under the law, disorderly conduct is a violation, but it steps up to a petty misdemeanor if the intention is to cause “substantial harm or serious inconvenience” to others, or if the disorderly conduct persists after reasonable warning to get up.”
A simple alarm clock could be a way of going around the law. The bill’s current version proposes to set up a certain amount of minutes that would be used as “prima facie evidence of recklessly creating a risk of physical inconvenience” to others.
HB 31 passed first reading Jan. 17. It is scheduled to go through the committee hearing today at 2 p.m. at the Honolulu Capitol in the House conference room 325.
Rep. Derek Kawakami, D-14th District, is one of the 13 members of the committee.
Visit www.capitol.hawaii.gov for more information or to submit testimony through email.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
