STAND. COM. REP. NO.3063
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: H.B. No. 1901
H.D. 2
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1901, H.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIV TESTING FOR SEXUAL OFFENSES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to allow mandatory human-immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing of persons charged with sexual offenses.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, Police Department of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawai'i Nurses' Association, and Sex Abuse Treatment Center. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Governor's Committee on HIV/AIDS, Office of the Public Defender, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, Life Foundation, and AIDS Community Care Action Team.
Your Committee finds that individuals who are survivors of sexual offenses are concerned about and at risk for contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Your Committee further finds that existing law provides for victims to request, and the court to mandate, HIV testing of convicted sex offenders. However, due to the potential life-threatening illnesses that can derive from HIV infection, early detection and treatment for survivors is recommended by health care providers and advocates for survivors of sexual assault. Your Committee, however, agrees with concerns raised in testimony about using different terms when referring to a victim and complainant, and in allowing the court to consider the sexual and drug use history of a person who has only been charged with an offense. Your Committee, therefore, requests that the Committee on Judiciary further review and consider these concerns. Your Committee also agrees that the integrity of the law regarding confidentiality of HIV test results needs to be preserved as much as possible.
Thus, upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the term "complainant" to "victim" in all proposed new language and retaining the term "victim" within existing law;
(2) Allowing a person charged with a sexual offense to voluntarily submit to take an HIV test, upon the request of the victim;
(3) Deleting the provision allowing the court to consider previous sex partners and intravenous drug use in determining whether to order a person charged with a sexual offense to take an HIV test;
(4) Adding a provision to section 325-16.5(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to request for testing of a sex offender by the victim, to include voluntary disclosure by the charged person as an exception to the requirement that HIV test results shall remain confidential; and
(5) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1901, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1901, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,
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____________________________ DAVID MATSUURA, Chair |
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