Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.R. No. 21 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to express concerns that recent actions by the federal government pose a threat to the human rights, civil liberties, and constitutional protections of the residents of this State.

Among other things, this measure:

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, Local 5, AFL-CIO, Hawaii State AFL-CIO, ILWU Local 142, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Life of the Land, the Oahu County Committee of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Hawaii Labor Against the War, Mestizo Association, First Christian Church of Honolulu, Hawaiian Political Action Council of Hawaii, and several individuals.

While federal laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the Homeland Security Act are aimed at saving our human rights, civil liberties, and constitutional protections, they run the serious risk of destroying the very freedoms that they purport to protect through invasive surveillance, secret searches, and so forth.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 21 and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.