STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2340

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 3047
                                        S.D. 1




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

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Education and Technology,
to which was referred S.B. No. 3047 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEX OFFENDERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committees, is
to allow detailed information about criminal sex offenders to be
more accessible by placing the information on the Internet.  This
bill further provides that such information shall be prohibited
from use for the purposes of insurance, loans, credit, housing
and accommodations, or benefits, privileges, or services provided
by any business establishment, and makes violation of these
prohibited usages a misdemeanor.

     Your Committees find that the information collected from
convicted sex offenders and presently made available at the
Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center and the various county police
stations can only be accessed during the hours of operations of
these entities.  While this can meet the needs of those for whom
the available locations and hours are convenient, many members of
the public are excluded from access to this critical information
due to work schedules or excessive distance from the currently
available locations.  Your Committees believe that the use of the
Internet is a viable option to increase the public's access to
this information.

     However, your Committees agree that creation of a new
section in the Hawaii Revised Statutes is not necessary in order

 
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to mandate that detailed information about criminal sex offenders
be made available on the Internet.  Your Committees note that
when chapter 846E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, was originally
enacted in 1997, the Legislature anticipated that the Internet
would be an appropriate means for making relevant information
about convicted sex offenders available and included the existing
permissive language in section 846E-3(d). (See Standing Committee
Report No. 1125, on H.B. 108, 1997.)

     Many testifiers voiced their concerns that immunity from
civil liability be included as a requisite precondition of
requiring Internet access.  While your Committees understand the
testifiers' concerns, your Committees believe that the good faith
immunity provided in section 846E-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
more than adequate to address their needs.

     Your Committees have held multiple discussions with the
Hawaii Criminal Data Center (HCDC) and recognize that they have
been actively researching the use of the Internet for the public
dissemination of sex offender information.  However, the HCDC has
been hampered in their progress because of a lack of resources.
Therefore, it is your Committees intent that the HCDC be given
the additional resources necessary for the implementation of this
mandate.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of
Honolulu, the Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association, and a
concerned parent.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was
submitted by the Department of the Attorney General and the
Office of the Public Defender.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the provisions of section 2 as unnecessary and
          redundant language;

     (2)  Adding a new section 2 which makes clarifying
          amendments to section 846E-3 and mandates that detailed
          information about criminal sex offenders be made
          available on the Internet;

     (3)  Deleting the provisions that grant the authorized state
          agency immunity from civil liability;

     (4)  Providing that $100,000 be appropriated out of the
          general fund, for fiscal year 2000-2001, to be expended
          for the purposes of this Act;

 
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     (5)  Clarifying that the effective date for section 2 is
          January 1, 2001; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Education and Technology that are
attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the
intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3047, as amended herein, and
recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto
as S.B. No. 3047, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Education and Technology,



____________________________       ______________________________
DAVID IGE, Chair                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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