STAND. COM. REP. NO.1204

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 562

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 562 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEXUAL ASSAULT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to remove the sunset provision from Act 1, Second Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2001, making permanent the age of consent for sexual contact in §§707-730 and 707-732, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS).

Your Committee was informed by the Department of the Attorney General (AG) that Hawaii is in danger of losing ten percent, or $300,000 each year from the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Grant for being non-compliant with the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act as Amended (Jacob Wetterling Act). Based on this information, your Committee amended this measure by inserting language similar to Senate Bill No. 1265, and scheduled a hearing on the proposed amended version of this measure after more than seventy-two hours of public notification.

Testimony in support of the measure was received from the AG and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. The Hawaii Family Forum and the Roman Catholic Church in the State of Hawaii supported part I of the measure.

Your Committee finds that subsequent to passage of Hawaii's sex offender registration laws, Congress enacted the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act. This Act requires offenders to notify authorities whenever the offender's employment, vocation, or enrollment status at an institution of higher education is changed. Hawaii's current statute only requires notification when an offender changes his name, employment, vehicle, or residence address. Additionally, the Jacob Wetterling Act requires a sex offender who travels to a new state to notify officials in the new state that he has arrived, within the time frame set by the laws of the new state. Hawaii's current statute requires the offender to notify the new state within ten days of arrival.

Moreover, Hawaii may not be compliant with Megan's law. Meagan's law addresses public disclosure of a sex offender's registration information if the court finds that public release is necessary to protect the public. While Hawaii's law includes provisions for public notification, ambiguous language hinders its implementation.

The intent of this measure is to provide increased protection to minors from sexual assaults by sexual predators. Therefore, based on the above, and from discussions and testimony received during the public hearing on this bill, your Committee amended the measure by:

(1) Creating two parts within the bill;

(2) Amending section 5 of Act 1, Second Special Session laws of Hawaii 2001 to require the AG to collect data generated as a result of the task force's recommendations, from the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the University of Hawaii, and service providers, and report its findings to the legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2004;

(3) Amending §846D-1, HRS, by defining "registration information" to mean the information specified in §846E-2(b), HRS;

(4) Amending §846E-2(b), HRS, by deleting the phrase "a signed statement by the sex offender containing", and adding the phrase "the following information";

(5) Amending §846E-2(b)(6), HRS, by adding the phrase "in any way, whether or not compensated, including but not limited to affiliation";

(6) Adding subsection (c) to §846E-2, HRS, which requires the sex offender to sign a statement verifying that all registration information is accurate and current whenever a sex offender provides registration information;

(7) Adding subsection (d) to §846E-2, HRS, which provides that each sex offender, whether or not a resident of this state, who remains in the state for more than ten days or for an aggregate period exceeding thirty days in one calendar year, must register within three working days of arrival in the State, release from incarceration or commitment, release on furlough, placement on parole, or arrival in a county in which the offender resides or expects to be present for a period exceeding ten days, and repealing the same provision from §846E-4(e);

(8) Adding a requirement to §846E-2, HRS, that sex offenders register in person with the county chief of police having jurisdiction of the area where the offender resides or is present, and repealing the same provision from §846E-4(e), HRS;

(9) Clarifying in §846E-3(d), HRS, that the State will be represented in a civil proceeding by the prosecuting attorney for the county where the hearing is held, to determine whether a sex offender's registration information will be publicly released;

(10) Amending §846E-3(d), HRS, by repealing the phrase "one or more of the factors" and inserting the word "factor", and repealing language permitting the sex offender to petition the court every ten years for reconsideration of the court's determination of lifetime public release. Also repeals the court's ability to relieve the sex offender from the lifetime public release determination upon written findings that the offender does not present a threat to the community and that public release is no longer necessary;

(11) Inserts new language into §846E-3(d), HRS, allowing a sex offender to petition the court, and allowing the court to modify its lifetime public release order upon a showing by clear and convincing evidence that the sex offender suffers an extraordinary physical disability that prevents the offender from committing future sexual offenses;

(12) Amending §846E-4(a), HRS, by inserting the words "at any time" in two places, repealing the words "name, employment, vehicle, or residence address", inserting the phrase "any of the sex offender's registration information,", repealing the phrase "not later than ten days after establishing residence in the new state;" and inserting the phrase "within the period of time mandated by the new state's sex offender registration laws;";

(13) Amending §846E-6(a), HRS, repealing the words "name, employment, vehicle, or residence address", inserting the phrase "any of the sex offender's registration information", repealing the phrase "not later than ten days after the person establishes residence in that state.", and inserting the phrase "within the period of time mandated by the new state's sex offender registration laws."; and

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

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. 562, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 562, S.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,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair