Three Senate committees have moved forward with a bill that would assist with white-collar crime and public fraud by funding two new units within the Department of the Attorney General.
A Special Investigation and Prosecution Unit would be established under SB2930. A Sex and Human Trafficking Unit will also be created if SB2930 continues to move ahead.
The two units combined will create 18 new positions.
Thomas Brady with the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office supports the bill. He testified at the joint committee, saying, "We have, when fully staffed, over 100 attorneys spread out over six divisions including specialized units like white-collar, sex assault, sex trafficking, career criminal, elder abuse, domestic violence and juveniles."
"And like the Attorney General's Office, we have dedicated investigators that are part of that investigation group. They are supervised by our chief investigator, but the idea is to get everybody in the same room talking about the same objectives and that is achieved with this bill," explained Brady.
SB2930 was discussed in a joint hearing with the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Judiciary, and Ways and Means.
