Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 161, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a temporary criminal history record check working group to consider issues related to criminal history record checks for noncriminal justice employment and licensing screening.

The bill directs the criminal history record check working group to review policy issues relating to noncriminal justice access and use of criminal history record information for employment and licensing purposes. In formulating policy and law recommendations to be submitted to the Legislature, the working group is directed to balance the public's need to know, employer liability, the reintegration of convicted offenders into society, and the record subject's right to privacy.

The Department of the Attorney General submitted testimony in support of the measure. The Legislative Reference Bureau and the Office of Information Practices commented on the measure.

Your Committee notes that a recent Legislative Reference Bureau study pointed out that Hawaii laws that govern access and use of criminal history record information and laws that authorize criminal history record checks, when considered together, are confusing and inconsistent, overlapping in some areas and conflicting in others. Clearly, criminal history record checks must be considered in light of a number of interrelated issues, not in isolation, and must consider the perspective of all interested stakeholders. To provide the perspective of all stakeholders, the Bureau's study recommended that the working group should include government members mandated to perform criminal history record checks to determine employment suitability, public and private sector employees, and licensing agencies, agencies that disseminate criminal history records, and agencies that govern and enforce how criminal history records may be used.

Instead of continued piecemeal authorization of criminal history record checks, your Committee finds that the creation of a representative stakeholder working group to review laws governing access and use of criminal history record information and interrelated issues will provide the Legislature with carefully considered recommendations on the relevant public policy issues essential to developing a new generation of policy and law relating to noncriminal justice access and use of criminal history record information.

Your Committee further finds that the Legislative Reference Bureau is not a "stakeholder" on criminal history record issues because the Bureau does not create or use criminal history records and is not a private, commercial compiler or reseller of criminal justice information. Because the Legislative Reference Bureau is not a stakeholder, your Committee believes that the Bureau should not be a member of the temporary criminal history record check working group, but would more appropriately provide technical assistance on legislative drafting on legislation proposed by the working group, as originally proposed in H.B. No. 1612, H.D. 2, S.D. 1. The Legislative Reference Bureau has expressed not only a willingness to provide technical drafting assistance, but also to make available copies of accumulated material related to criminal history record checks with the criminal history record check working group.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 161, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 161, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.