STAND. COM. REP. NO.444-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2428

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2428 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGE VERIFICATION OF SEXUAL PERFORMERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of the bill is to protect children by:

(1) Requiring producers of visual depictions of sexual conduct to:

(A) Verify, keep, and make available to law enforcement, records showing that their performers are adults; and

(B) Affix information disclosing the location of records on produced material that contains visual depictions of sexual conduct;

and

(2) Prohibiting dissemination of such material without the required information affixed.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Police Department, and Hawaii Family Forum. The Office of the Public Defender provided testimony in opposition.

Your Committee finds that this measure attempts to address the difficulty in enforcing child pornography laws by placing the burden on producers to verify and maintain records of the age of performers, and that the measure's possible adverse impact on the legitimate film-making industry in Hawaii should be further investigated.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Requiring records to be maintained at the site of live performances and made available upon request of law enforcement;

(2) Deleting birth certificates, which are difficult to verify and do not include a photograph, from the list of identification records that qualify as age verification records;

(3) Defining "live audience" to mean members of the public present during an on-going performance, excluding persons producing the performance;

(4) Changing the effective date to February 30, 3025, to ensure continued discussion; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2428, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2428, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair