STAND. COM. REP. NO.2105
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.B. No. 2686
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 S.B. No. 2686 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGE VERIFICATION OF SEXUAL PERFORMERS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to require producers of pornography to verify that their performers are not minors, and to keep documentation of this verification.
Your Committee received testimony in favor of this measure from the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney, Attorney General, Honolulu Police Department, Public Defender, Hawaii Family Forum, and Sisters Offering Support.
Your Committee finds that law enforcement has generally had difficulties in gaining the cooperation of minor victims and witnesses in this area and thus has had problems in enforcing laws against use of minors in sex industries. The approach proposed by this measure obviates this problem by requiring persons using sexual performers to create, maintain, and affix information which can be checked by law enforcement to ascertain that minors were not used in the creation or production of the performance or material. This measure allows law enforcement to check for violations by use of records required to be kept versus having to gain the cooperation of the minors to detect, investigate, and prosecute violations.
Your Committee has amended this measure as follows:
(1) By changing the reference of "law enforcement official" to "law enforcement officer", which is defined in section 701-118 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(2) Deleting birth certificates from the documents that may constitute age verification records, which are easily falsified;
(3) Deleting the safe-harbor provisions relating to the use of information or evidence obtained;
(4) Clarifying the definition of "sexual performer" by adding a definition of "sexual exploitation of a minor";
(5) Eliminating the 24-hour time allowance for a law enforcement request to produce age verification records; and
(6) Providing a saving provision.
Additionally, your Committee has made nonsubstantive technical amendments to this measure.
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 S.B. No. 2686, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2686, 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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