Actions for false claims to the counties; qui tam actions
HRS §46-171
in effect46-171. Actions for false claims to the counties; qui tam actions
(a) Any person who:
(1) Knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a
false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval;
(2) Knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or
used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim;
(3) Has possession, custody, or control of property
or money used, or to be used, by a county and, intending to defraud a county or
to wilfully conceal the property, delivers, or causes to be delivered, less
property than the amount for which the person receives a certificate or
receipt;
(4) Is authorized to make or deliver a document
certifying receipt of property used, or to be used by a county and, intending
to defraud a county, makes or delivers the receipt without completely knowing
that the information on the receipt is true;
(5) Buys, or receives as a pledge of an obligation or
debt, public property from any officer or employee of a county that the person
knows is not lawfully authorized to sell or pledge the property;
(6) Knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or
used, a false record or statement material to an obligation to pay or transmit
money or property to a county, or knowingly conceals, or knowingly and
improperly avoids or decreases an obligation to pay or transmit money or
property to a county;
(7) Is a beneficiary of an inadvertent submission of
a false claim to a county, who subsequently discovers the falsity of the claim,
and fails to disclose the false claim to the county within a reasonable time
after discovery of the false claim; or
(8) Conspires to commit any of the conduct described
in this subsection,
shall be liable to the county for a civil penalty of
not less than $5,500 and not more than $11,000, plus three times the amount of
damages that the county sustains due to the act of that person.
(b) If the court finds that a person who has
violated subsection (a):
(1) Furnished officials of the county responsible for
investigating false claims violations with all information known to the person
about the violation within thirty days after the date on which the defendant
first obtained the information;
(2) Fully cooperated with any county investigation of
the violation; and
(3) At the time the person furnished the county with
the information about the violation, no criminal prosecution, civil action, or
administrative action had commenced under this title with respect to the
violation, and the person did not have actual knowledge of the existence of an
investigation into the violation;
the court may assess not less than two times the
amount of damages that the county sustains because of the act of the person. A
person violating subsection (a) shall also be liable to the county for the
costs and attorneys' fees of a civil action brought to recover the penalty or
damages.
(c) Liability under this section shall be
joint and several for any act committed by two or more persons.
(d) This section shall not apply to any
controversy involving an amount of less than $500 in value. For purposes of
this subsection, "controversy" means the aggregate of any one or more
false claims submitted by the same person in violation of this part. Proof of
specific intent to defraud is not required.
(e) For purposes of this section:
"Claim" means any request or demand,
whether under a contract or otherwise, for money or property, and whether or
not a county has title to the money or property, that is presented to an
officer, employee, or agent of the county or is made to a contractor, grantee,
or other recipient, if the money or property is to be spent or used on the
county's behalf or to advance a county program or interest, and if the county
provides or has provided any portion of the money or property that is requested
or demanded or will reimburse the contractor, grantee, or other recipient for
any portion of the money or property that is requested or demanded.
"Claim" shall not include requests or demands for money or property
that a county has paid to an individual as compensation for employment or as an
income subsidy with no restrictions on that individual's use of the money or
property.
"Knowing" and "knowingly"
means that a person, with respect to information:
(1) Has actual knowledge of the information;
(2) Acts in deliberate ignorance of the truth or
falsity of the information; or
(3) Acts in reckless disregard
of the truth or falsity of the information;
and no proof of specific intent to defraud is
required.
"Material" means having the tendency
to influence or capability to influence the payment or receipt of money or
property.
"Obligation" means an established
duty, whether or not fixed, arising from an express or implied contractual,
grantor-grantee, or licensor-licensee relationship, from a fee-based or similar
relationship, from statute, regulation, or administrative rule, or from the
retention of any overpayment.
[L 2001, c 227, pt of §1; am L 2012, c 294, §2]
Source: Hawaii State Legislature (capitol.hawaii.gov), via Internet Archive capturesURL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol02_Ch0046-0115/HRS0046/HRS_0046-0171.htmFetched: 11/10/2026