STAND. COM. REP. NO. 102-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2042
                                     




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No.
2042 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PORNOGRAPHY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to remove the exemption from
prosecution that public library employees currently have for the
act of promoting pornography for minors.

     The Hawaii Catholic Conference and the Hawaii Family Forum
testified in support of this bill.  The Hawaii Library
Association, Information Systems, and the Hawaii State Public
Library System testified in opposition to this bill.
 
     Your Committee finds that no sound justification exists for
the exemption of public library personnel from prosecution for
promoting pornography for minors.  Exemptions to this criminal
act are otherwise reserved for parents, siblings, or others
acting in the place of parents (in loco parentis) for a minor.
The public libraries have explicitly stated that this sort of
relationship does not apply to them.  Therefore, the freedoms
extended to parents to disseminate materials to their minor
children as they wish should likewise not apply to library
personnel.

     Your Committee further finds that there is no legal basis
for concerns that library staff may be prosecuted for
inadvertently distributing or promoting materials containing

 
 
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nudity or other content that could be viewed as objectionable in
periodicals such as National Geographic.  The definition of
"pornography for minors" in the Hawaii Revised Statutes clearly
does not encompass these kinds of materials, and legal action
against library personnel in this instance would be unjustified.  

     For these reasons, exempting library personnel from the
criminal act of promoting pornography for minors is not sensible,
and your Committee urges passage of this bill.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
2042 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred
to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   KEN ITO, Chair