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. 2818 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to include employees of private companies working in correctional facilities in the scope of sexual offenses statutes.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Public Safety, Hawaii State Commission of the Status of Women, Community Alliance on Prisons, ACLU, TJ Mahoney and Associates, and a private citizen. The Office of the Public Defender offered comments on this measure.

Your Committee finds that the current statutes could be construed to mean that only state employees working in state correctional facilities, and not employees of private companies that work in state correctional facilities, are subject to the sexual offenses statutes. Your Committee finds that these amendments would strengthen the legal protections of imprisoned persons from sexual penetration and sexual contact by any worker in a correctional facility, regardless of the employer.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by adding language that the private company employee receive notice, changing the word "residing" to "committed" to clarify that it does not include employees that may live at the correctional facility, and making technical, nonsubstantive changes.

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. 2818, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2818, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.