STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2495

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2192
                                        S.D. 2




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No.
2192, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION
     ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to strengthen the protections
provided by Hawaii's Whistleblowers' Protection Act.

     Your Committee finds that employees who report to government
entities or to their employers violations of laws, rules,
regulations, or ordinances, as well as providing information that
demonstrates a danger to public health, safety, and welfare,
should be protected from retaliation from their employer through
discriminatory actions regarding privileges of employment.

     This bill also extends that statute of limitations from
ninety days to a much more reasonable two years.  Your Committee
finds that a longer statute of limitations gives the
whistleblower more time to collect evidence of retaliatory
action.

     Finally, your Committee finds that an increase in the
maximum fine from $500 to $10,000 will substitute a real

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2495
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deterrent in place of what might otherwise be just a cost of
doing business.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by making technical,
nonsubstantive changes in section 1 for purposes of style and
grammar.

     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 S.B. No.
2192, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2192, S.D.
2.

                                   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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