Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 830, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill as received by your Committee is to implement the recommendations of the Criminal History Record Check Working Group (Working Group) that was established by Act 263, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001 (Act 263). Specifically, the bill resolves disparate practices, inconsistencies, and duplicative language relating to the conduct of criminal history record checks for employment, certification, and licensing of individuals.

The City and County of Honolulu Police Department and Department of Human Resources, the State of Hawaii Department of Human Services, the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, the Department of Human Resources Development, the Judiciary, and the Hawaii Bankers Association testified in support of the measure. The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Department of Health, the Department of the Attorney General, and the Department of Education testified in support of the measure and offered amendments. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Insurance Division testified that its practices of conducting

criminal records checks through the Federal Bureau of

Investigations and Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center on persons engaged in the business of insurance are not affected by this bill.

Your Committee finds that the Working Group has made significant strides in completing the assignments as specified in Act 263. However, there is more work to be done by the Working Group, specifically making recommendations about new positions that should be included in the criminal history records check requirement, reviewing additional statutory language for uniformity and consistency, the use of nonconviction data and whether reliance on such data is legally permissible for all categories of positions covered by the various laws. Your Committee has prepared a memo outlining the specific issues to be reviewed by the Working Group. Even though there is additional work that should be done by the Working Group, your Committee believes that these issues should be addressed in subsequent legislation rather than delay implementation of the findings and recommendations of the Working Group made to date.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended by the bill by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 830, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 830, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.