STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1579

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 955
                                        H.D. 1
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No.
955, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRIME,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to make it a class C felony to
take sexual photographs or videotapes of a person without consent
and when the person expects privacy, and a misdemeanor to possess
such materials.  In addition, your Committee made available and
heard testimony on a proposed amended version of this bill which
would also have provided penalties for persons assisting a minor
who had run away from home.

     Your Committee finds that current laws criminalizing a
violation of privacy do not distinguish between surreptitious
recording of any events and sounds in a private place, and the
more egregious offense of installing a hidden device to
surreptitiously record or observe persons while they are
undressed or engaging in sexual activity.  Your Committee
believes that using a hidden device to record someone while
engaged in very personal acts merits a higher penalty than simply
using a hidden device to record any events in a private place.
Your Committee further finds that the current law relating to
violation of privacy does not specifically address potential
violations of privacy through videotaping, or through
interception of electronic transmissions such as facsimiles or e-
mail.

 
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     Your Committee finds that the proposed penalties for
assisting a minor runaway would apply to anyone who assisted a
minor runaway in need of food or shelter.  This provision would
penalize equally adults who lured minors from their homes for bad
reasons, and adults who helped minors fleeing abusive home
situations.  Your Committee believes that limiting the acts
penalized to concealment of a runaway minor would serve the needs
of police and prosecutors in their efforts to enforce laws
against custodial interference when, for instance, a runaway
minor is intentionally concealed by an adult boyfriend.

     Your Committee also supports providing assistance to crime
victims in obtaining compensation for their losses, both
financial and non-pecuniary, so that they may be made whole.
Your Committee notes that the Crime Victim Compensation
Commission has been provided the authority to seek compensation
for victims from the offenders, especially in cases in which
judgments and restitution have been ordered by the court and the
victim is unable to collect from the offender.  Your Committee
agrees that in order to maximize the ability of the crime victim
compensation commission to seek compensation for the victims they
represent, the administrative cap placed on their collections
should be removed.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of the Prosecutor for the City and County of Honolulu
and the Honolulu Police Department.  Testimony partially in
support and partially in opposition to this measure was submitted
by the Office of the Public Defender.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Moving from Chapter 707, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to
          Chapter 711, the provision penalizing surreptitious
          filming of a person in a state of undress or engaging
          in sexual conduct;

     (2)  Renaming the offense created by this bill as a
          violation of privacy in the first degree, and renaming
          the current invasion of privacy offense as an invasion
          of privacy in the second degree;

     (3)  Moving the provision making it a misdemeanor to possess
          a surreptitiously filmed recording of someone undressed
          or engaging in sexual activity, to the offense of
          invasion of privacy in the second degree;


 
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     (4)  Adding videotaping and filming of private events, and
          interception of electronic transmissions, to the acts
          giving rise to the offense of invasion of privacy in
          the second degree;

     (5)  Amending the provision of the proposed S.D. 1 which
          would have penalized any person who rendered assistance
          to a runaway minor, to instead penalize persons who
          concealed the minor; 

     (6)  Inserting the provisions of S.B. 1159, S.D. 1, which
          repeals the administrative cap on the crime victim
          compensation fund; and

     (7)  Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
955, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 955, H.D.
1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary,



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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